General Category > Comic Related Discussion
Action #1 reportedly breaks the $2 million mark at auction
erikpsmith:
Just stumbled across this posting. I broke the story about the Sept. 2014 sale, when I was writing editorials at the Seattle Times. A comic-shop merchant in Federal Way was making plans to auction a copy of Action No. 1 on eBay, which he had obtained for an undisclosed amount. Sure, a couple of bloggers had posted items about the sale, and it may have even gotten a paragraph or so in the New York Times, but I'm pretty sure I was the first in the news business to write a full-fledged story about it. Because it appeared on the editorial page, it had to take the form of a column, but once it ran there was a flurry of attention and there were many that followed. What happened was that one of the people employed by eBay's PR firm in Seattle remembered that she knew a guy at the Times who might be interested in the story, and when she called, I said of course.
I like to think the resulting publicity may have added $1 million to the price.
The cool thing about it was that I actually got to hold the thing. It was slabbed, of course, so no danger of fingerprints.
The point was that it was the best-preserved copy in the entire world, with snow-white page gutters and no indication it had ever been read. And the whole time I was working on the story, I kept thinking about how strange it was that comic books had become something you weren't supposed to read, but rather something you sent to a grading service, encased in a plastic shell, and pull out of a box from time to time and look at for a second and then put back in the box. And how much fun is that?
But still, it's as close as I'm ever going to get to an original copy.
Erik Smith
Olympia, WA
Yoc:
Thanks for sharing that Erik.
And I agree it's a real shame comics are barely holding on and yet people treat them as an investment at the same time. Treating them like a stamp or a coin.
These plastic coffins are an evil thing IMO working against all the work we are trying to do here on DCM. If anyone wants to safely crack one open for reading or even better scanning and sharing there are several videos on YouTube showing how to do it. And we have a Wanted Comics List of books we'd LOVE to see scanned for DCM here -
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,6943.0.html
-Yoc
Geo (RIP):
New links as the old are dead:
Original story for 2.2 million:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-superman-comic/first-superman-comic-sells-for-record-2-2-million-idUSTRE7B00YN20111201
Perhaps 3.2 million is a better story now for it:
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-first-superman-comic-book-record-price-3-point-2-million-20140825-story.html
This one was sold at a dealer that Eric {OtherEric) and I {Geo) stop at once in a while.
Geo
OtherEric:
--- Quote from: Geo on September 02, 2017, 06:22:14 PM ---New links as the old are dead:
Original story for 2.2 million:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-superman-comic/first-superman-comic-sells-for-record-2-2-million-idUSTRE7B00YN20111201
Perhaps 3.2 million is a better story now for it:
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-first-superman-comic-book-record-price-3-point-2-million-20140825-story.html
This one was sold at a dealer that Eric {OtherEric) and I {Geo) stop at once in a while.
Geo
--- End quote ---
The catch is, the dealer has roughly two speeds... high grade slabs online, and a dollar bin in the store. The storefront is actually mostly a trading card shop.
For those who like reader books, though, the dollar bin can be spectacular. I've probably pulled over 100 10 or 12 cent books out of there; the best find being a roughly 4.0 Fantastic Four that I got the same weekend the Action #1 auction ended. I like to claim I got the 2nd best book they sold that weekend. :-)
Shea6408:
--- Quote from: John C on October 21, 2014, 03:34:44 PM ---CGC has what appears to be a scan of the [copy of Action Comics #1 that sold for over $3 million in 2014], though I'm a little suspicious for various reasons.
http://www.cgccomics.com/1134755001/
--- End quote ---
I normally don't post follow-up questions to posts that are over 3-1/2 years old, but Action Comics #1 is one of my interests, and I recently found out about CGC's scan and was impressed, so I have to ask.
What is it about the scan that makes you suspicious?
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