Rare comic books command phenomenal prices in auctions and we saw the mother of all comic book auctions on eBay last Sunday. The first superman comic book issued in 1938 was up for auction and expectedly it became the most expensive comic book by fetching a whopping $3.2 million. The comic book was not only rare but very significant in the sense that it contained the first ever appearance of Superman. It was the issue that practically launched the entire superhero industry in 1938. The first Superman comic book became the sixth comic book to sell for over $1 million.
The rare comic book achieved this excessively high price because despite being so old and rare it was in very good condition. It was graded by the Certified Guaranty Company at a 9.0 which means Very Fine or Near Mint condition, which is extremely rare in case of comic books published between 1938 and 1950. It was considered the Golden Age of comic books and any issue from the period is considered a collector’s item. The Superman comic book from 1938 received an opening bid of $1 million within five minutes of the auction going live. It raced ahead to $2.2 million by Friday but it was on Sunday, in a late flurry of bids before the auction came to a close, that the winning bid was pushed to over $3.2 million.
The current owner of the rare comic book was Darren Adams of Pristine Comics. He was the fourth owner of the particular edition and had received an offer of $3 million for the copy. However, he was convinced that the comic book was worth more than that and it could fetch more on the eBay. He was proved right when ComicConnect owners Vincent Zurzolo and Stephen Fishler bid $3,207,852 for the rare copy of the inaugural edition of the Superman comic book. ComicConnect is known as a dealer of vintage and rare comic books and had sold a previous copy of Action Comics #1. It was sold in 2011 to Nicolas Cage for $2.16 million and had remained the record for the most expensive comic book till now.
Via: washingtonpost
