About Heritage Auctions - Entertainment & Music Memorabilia

Joseph “Joe” Maddalena joined Heritage Auctions as Executive Vice President in January 2021 following an unparalleled 35-year track record of success as the founder of Profiles in History, which he built into the world’s largest auctioneer of coveted Hollywood memorabilia and popular culture keepsakes.  Some of the iconic items he brought to market included Luke Skywalker’s light saber, Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Indiana Jones’ whip and Peter Fonda’s Easy Rider chopper, along with the 2011 Debbie Reynolds auction that was highlighted by Marilyn Monroe’s Seven Year Itch “subway dress” realizing $5.52 million.  

Born into a family of antiques dealers in Rhode Island, Joe learned early on how to turn his passion for collecting historical autographs into a career.  Upon graduation from Pepperdine, he made the decision to become a full-time dealer of historical documents, and opened his first office in 1985.  Profiles in History now owns virtually every Guinness Book record for prices of original screen-used memorabilia.  Joe is a lifetime member of the Manuscript Society and is widely recognized as the nation’s leading authority on entertainment memorabilia and historical documents.  In addition, he starred for three seasons in Syfy’s Hollywood Treasure, which gave viewers an inside look at the world of showbiz and pop culture memorabilia.  

Joe brings deep and long-lasting relationships with major collectors in a myriad fields, as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of multiple categories such as nature and science, rare books and wine. His years of experience in these numerous categories and expansive role at Heritage will allow him to serve clients far more efficiently and effectively than ever.

Zach’s lifelong interest in movie memorabilia began at age 3, when he received an autographed picture from a man dressed up as RoboCop at a Blockbuster Video in suburban Chicago. After undergraduate and graduate studies at UCR and Long Beach State, he joined the team at Profiles in History.   

Some of the noteworthy auctions he curated in that position included premiere collections such as the Culver Pictures Archive, the estate of Marvin Paige, and Hollywood Book & Poster, as well as for celebrity clients such as Liza Minnelli, Debbie Reynolds, and Carrie Fisher. Immersed in the world of movie paper, film production artifacts, and entertainment ephemera for the past eight years, Zach strives to provide collectors with eclectic offerings of rare and exciting material.

A sales professional and account manager with more than 25 years of experience, Justin Caravoulias’ enduring love for action figures started in the ’70s with a fuzzy-haired GI Joe 12-inch Land Adventurer figure his mother bought at a yard sale. His position as a Consignment Director for Action Figures & Toys at Heritage perfectly unites his extensive sales background with his lifelong passion for action figures and toys.

After attending the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Caravoulias started a successful career that encompassed advertising, telecommunications, premium domain name sales, and recruitment services. In 2019, he created e-commerce site Vitruvian Armory, a company that serves 1:18 scale action figure customizers by helping them acquire the parts and accessories to suit their individual needs. After joining Heritage in February 2023, he played an immediate key role in assembling the inaugural Ultimate Batman Collection Signature® Auction, personally cataloging over 600 lots with one of the largest and most comprehensive Batman collections from the ’60's and ’70s. 

Caravoulias’ personal collection is diverse and based around action figures. Collected since childhood, his GI Joe collection ranges from 1964 to present day, in addition to other action figure lines from the ’70s to today along with trading/sports cards, vinyl records, VHS tapes, comic books, and most recently, Japanese movie tickets.

Charles Epting joined Heritage Auctions in August 2024 after eight years in the philatelic auction industry, during which time he handled the sale of over $30 million worth of postage stamps. A lifelong pop culture enthusiast, his role as Associate Director of Posters allows Charles to combine his auction house experience with a subject matter that he is innately familiar with and passionate about. He is excited to help collectors engage with these beautiful and important pieces of our past.

Charles is the author of five books, including a biography of the silent film actress Bebe Daniels, and is the former editor of Silent Film Quarterly. The shared passion that Charles and his wife Olivia have for early Hollywood runs so deep that they even named their son Autry after the late, great singing cowboy.

Dave Hinson serves as a Guitar and Musical Instruments Expert and Appraiser at Heritage Auctions, a role he has held since 2009. He brings decades of experience in vintage guitars and the broader musical instruments market, and is widely recognized for his expertise in valuation, authentication, and pricing.

Dave is an editor of the Vintage Guitar Price Guide and a contributing editor and adviser to the Blue Book of Guitars. He also serves on the advisory board of the Modern Guitar Museum in Los Angeles. His expertise is regularly sought by appraisers, auction houses, and guitar dealers worldwide for opinions on accuracy and market value.

In addition to his work at Heritage, Dave owns two internationally recognized guitar shops in St. Louis and Dallas. He has an extensive media presence, including appearances as “The Guitar Guy” on syndicated CBS radio’s Overnight America, as well as on KFTK 97.1 FM and KTRS 550 AM in St. Louis. Since 2012, he has also appeared as a musical instruments appraiser for the KETC PBS Trash or Treasure fair.

With a background in music and film journalism and a lifelong passion for record stores, Jon Steffens joined the Heritage Music and Entertainment team in 2015. Starting as a cataloger, Jon rose through the ranks to become a Valuation Specialist and Consignment Director specializing in music memorabilia. In this role, he has been instrumental in curating and bringing iconic pieces to auction, including items from Metallica, Tom Petty, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Duke Ellington, The Misfits, Tupac Shakur, and many other legendary figures in popular music. 

Jon is also an accomplished author of horror and dark fiction and has contributed to The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Horror and The Overstreet Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles.