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Born into a family of antiques dealers in Rhode Island, Joseph Maddalena learned early on how to turn his passion of collecting historical autographs into a career. As a child, while traveling with his parents to various antiques shows, Maddalena attended his first baseball card convention, and a great idea was born. An avid card collector, Maddalena saw that there was a community of collectors around the New England area, but not enough shows to accommodate them. It was then, at 12 years old, that he decided to organize the first baseball card show in Rhode Island. With the money he saved from his paper route, young Maddalena rented the American Legion hall in his hometown of Cranston, Rhode Island and staged the first-ever local card show. With his parents serving hot dogs and sodas to the attendees, Maddalena's show proved so successful, that he continued staging shows branching out to comic book conventions, and by the age of 14 had amassed over one million baseball cards, thousands of autographs and over 100,000 comic books and original pieces of art! So begins the story of Profiles in History...!
Still more a hobby than a career, Maddalena moved west in 1980 to attend Pepperdine University and pursue a career in broadcasting. Needing to support himself, Maddalena turned to his hobby of buying and selling historical documents. On weekends he scoured the old bookstores of Hollywood for letters and rare books from such famous writers as Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Raymond Chandler, etc. that would fetch a fair price to collectors back east. Upon graduation from Pepperdine, realizing that a career in broadcasting was not in the stars, Maddalena pursued his passion becoming a full-time dealer of historical documents.
Expanding his horizons to include all facets of entertainment and historic memorabilia, Maddalena opened his first office in 1985. His inventory grew to include quality historical material dating from the Revolutionary War through contemporary world events, in fields ranging from the arts and sciences to U.S. presidents, aviators, explorers, the Wild West, business leaders, literature and Hollywood icons.
Courtesy of Daylife.com
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JULY 30: Joe Maddalena speaks onstage during the 'Hunting Hollywood' session panel for the SyFy portion of the summer Television Critics Association press tour on July 30, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California
His expertise is well known and relied on. In 1997, he was instrumental in exposing the Lex Cusak $13 million dollar JFK/Marilyn Monroe forgery hoax, and was interviewed by Peter Jennings of 20/20 as an industry expert.
A lifetime member of the Manuscript Society, Maddalena is widely recognized as the nation's leading authority on entertainment memorabilia and historical documents. Maddalena won a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for paying a world record price at public auction for a handwritten letter of Abraham Lincoln dated January 8, 1863 regarding his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation for $749,000. He has been interviewed by hundreds of such leading news organizations throughout the world as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, AP, Reuters, Fox News, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, E! Entertainment, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, The Washington Post, Bill O’Reilly, Conan O’Brien and many, many more. Celebrities, executives and top collectors worldwide have recognized Maddalena's ability to acquire one-of-a-kind authentic artifacts.
In February 2009 Maddalena worked with the Library of Congress to stage “With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Exhibition”, the most successful exhibition in its history, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday. The exhibition ran from February through May, 2009, after which it traveled to five U.S. cities.
Maddalena sits on the boards of various private foundations and has built a permanent display of historical documents at the Beverly Hills Public Library and another at the Portland Oregon Historical Society to further the public’s awareness of U.S. history.
Known as an authority for truly outstanding quality material, Maddalena’s clients include business leaders, rock stars, sports heroes, world-renowned journalists, entertainment executives and A-list celebrities. His clients have included Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Tip O’Neill, Henry Kissinger, Malcolm Forbes, H. Ross Perot and the late Michael Jackson, to name a few. Through the years, Maddalena has earned his reputation for being a keen, fair businessman who knows the history and value of historical and pop culture artifacts.
In 1995 Profiles in History held its first auction of original Hollywood costumes, props, set pieces and memorabilia. Maddalena recognized that this field of collecting was going to grow over the next decade and positioned Profiles in History as the largest auction house in the world devoted exclusively to this field. In the summer of 2010 Profiles in History will host The LOST Auction for ABC following the iconic television series’ finale. Prior Profiles in History Hollywood auction highlights include the “Cowardly Lion” costume from The Wizard of Oz ($805,000); a full-scale T-800 Endoskeleton from Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($488,750); a T.I.E. Fighter filming miniature from Star Wars ($402,500); a King Kong six-sheet movie poster ($345,000); the “U.S.S. Enterprise” command chair from Star Trek: The Original Series ($304,750); the B-9 Robot from Lost in Space ($264,500) and Luke Skywalker’s light saber from Star Wars ($240,000).
Active in supporting his community as well as at-risk and underprivileged children, Maddalena is a board member of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, the Calmont School and the California Community Foundation. Joe worked with his friends Janet and Wayne Gretzky to raise funds for building the new baseball field at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village. He also founded the Topanga Canyon Fire Fund to protect and shelter community residents in the event of brush fires, and is a generous benefactor to numerous children's organizations. As Profiles in History grows in its status as one of the top auction houses for entertainment and historical collectibles, Maddalena will continue to lead it with his historical knowledge, his business sense and heart.
Wayne Gretzky, Janet Gretzky, Joseph Maddalena