An 86-year-old Superman comedian present in a household attic has bought for a whopping $9.12 million at public sale.
The 1939 first-edition copy of Superman No. 1 earned the best CGC grade for the Man of Metal’s title comedian debut, and have become the costliest comedian ever bought when it went for over $9 million at a Heritage public sale held this week.
Superman No. 1 is, alongside Motion Comics No. 1 and Detective Comics No. 27, thought of one of many “massive three” comics. It marked the primary time a personality that debuted in a comic book e book had their very own title devoted completely to them. 500,000 copies of Superman No. 1 have been initially printed, adopted by print runs of 250,000 after which 150,000, however intact copies are uncommon immediately partly as a result of it inspired readers to chop the quilt off to make use of as a poster.
This highest-ever-graded copy of Superman No. 1 was being protected by solely a stack of outdated newspapers in a cardboard field, however nonetheless managed to earn a 9.0 on a 10-point scale by third-party comics grading service CGC. The $9.12 million worth smashed the earlier comedian worth report, set by an 8.5-graded copy of Motion Comics No. 1 that bought for $6 million by Heritage Auctions in 2024.
This copy is one in every of solely seven identified with a CGC grade of 6.0 or increased. It tops esteemed pedigreed copies together with the Mile Excessive and Davis Crippen copies and is one in every of fewer than 100 copies of this situation in any grade, together with restored examples, that Heritage has ever provided.
The copy that bought on Thursday was discovered final 12 months underneath a stack of outdated newspapers in a cardboard field by three unnamed brothers in northern California whereas they have been going by their late mom’s attic. Their mom had purchased the comedian when she was 9 years outdated and dwelling in San Francisco, the brothers, who’ve requested to not be named, mentioned. Over time, she informed her sons that she had “uncommon comics someplace,” however they by no means discovered them.
“This new report might sometime be remembered as an early stage of in style tradition gathering’s trajectory into the higher reaches of the public sale area,” commented Jim Halperin, Co-Founding father of Heritage Auctions. “The worth and historic significance of those objects have gotten much more well-known to collectors everywhere in the world.”
Picture credit score: Heritage Auctions.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
