Who Founded 2nd Markets?
Jon R. Warren is the owner and founder of 2nd Markets. He is a certified appraiser and member of the International Society of Appraisers.
Jon is an internationally recognized antiques and collectibles expert, authoring numerous price guides, including Wizard: The Guide to Comics, The Official Price Guide to Paperback Books,
Warren’s Movie Poster Price Guide, and many others. He was the senior price guide editor for Wizard Magazine, Toyfare Magazine, and Inquest magazine from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that,
he was the senior editor of The Overstreet Update, a market research guide for collectors of rare comic books. He was Vice President of Market Research
for an 8-million dollar venture capital funded website, Wizardworld.com, in 2000 and 2001 (it died in the dotcom crash).
He has worked as a consultant for Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, TX and provided appraisal services for many great collections.
Movie Poster collectors may be familiar with his series of Movie Poster price guides, first published in 1985 and now online at iGuide.net. Jon has
produced dozens of price guides both in print and online, all with the same mission: to help people learn the true value of their antiques and collectibles.
Jon is the official appraiser for the estate of actor John Wayne. He is an IRS Expert Witness called to authenticate and validate appraisals for charitable
donations purposes.
Warren founded 2nd Markets because, “The internet has lacked a way for individuals and estates to liquidate a collection quickly without starting a new business.
Our goal is to provide a 'second market' for just about anything of value by offering a fair wholesale bid for collections, hoards, and estates."
Jon has had the collecting passion since childhood. At age 15, he owned and operated a mail-order rare stamp business, selling
rare US commemoratives to collectors world-wide under the business name "Rarities, Inc." Collectors purchased thousands of dollars
of rare stamps through the mail from Rarities, Inc. never knowing they were dealing with a teenager. Jon opened his first collector
shop at age 19 and began traveling the country in search of artifacts at age 17. He has many great road finds, including one-of-a-kind,
only known copies of rare Delta Blues records by Son House and Charlie Patton, world famous finds of rare movie posters
(The Royal Theater Collection), an outstanding find of rare rock and roll concert posters, and many others. He is an authentic "American Picker."
Jon graduated summa cum laude from Bryan College with a degree in Business Administration: Informational Management, and magna cum laude with a degree in Computer Science.
Jon is president of 2nd Markets Corporation. He can be reached at jon@2ndmarkets.com.
