$2,161,000

Not a bad result… right where I thought it would be, actually.

I've got to update this post again, huh?

The record table is updates, at least.

.

This is precisely why I love this hobby. Even with all the research and all the biggest brains I can find feeding me information books like this can reappear and upset the applecart. I'll clearly be rewriting the most valuable comic books in the world article and we'll definitely have a new champion on top of the all time record comic book sales table. I don't see this selling for a penny less than $2,000,000.

What's interesting is I've known about this book for several years, being the copy stolen from Nic Cage and notoriously absent from his massive Heritage auction. I just never knew it was this nice. I also didn't know it was the book sold at the 1992 Sotheby's auction for $82,500. Here's my scan of that catalog image:

Just to capture this phenomenal series of books:

1. Action Comics 1938 # 1 CGC VG+: 4.5 $345,000
2. Captain America Comics # 1 CGC NM- 9.2 $343,057
3. Action Comics 1938 # 10 CGC VF/NM 9.0 $258,000
4. Detective Comics # 33 CGC NM-: 9.2 $194,000
5. Action Comics 1938 # 13 CGC NM-: 9.2 $185,000
6. Flash Comics 1940-49 # 1 CGC VF/NM 9.0 $85,000

Not too shabby, eh? I'll update with hammer prices as they come in.

Action Comics #1 First SUPERMAN original 1938

Description:

Action Comics #1 is the ultimate comic book, the holy grail, the one that started it all.

And this is very likely the most affordable opportunity you will ever have to obtain the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1 from 1938.

It is not a complete copy of Action 1. It is missing the cover and nearly all of the “back-up” stories featuring Zatara the magician, and other characters.

But it has 100% of the Superman story.

The FIRST Superman story ever published.

It’s all original, from 1938, and it’s all here.

High grade complete copies of Action #1 have already topped $1 million (and one sold for $1.5 million).
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I'm totally jaded. A year ago I would have been covering every bid. Now? I post twice.

Anyway, that's a big chunk of change for a mid-grade comic book. Is there any doubt that Action #1 (and the Golden Age) really rule the hobby? How many Silver Age books would outsell this copy? 1? 2? How many Golden Age?

Action #1 is king.

Because I haven't even mentioned these two books:

Detective #27 CGC 4.0 at $229,000 with a week to go

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Sorry! I've been busy.

I thought I might as well post them and point out that I updated the all time record comic book sales.

Detective #27 CGC 6.0 Sells For $575,000

Metropolis sold this book for a ridiculous amount of money:
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I should point out, I valued this one correctly when it was announced.

And just like that, we have a new record and the 3rd seven figure sale. A remarkable month.

With this stake in the ground, the questions start to form- what's the Allentown Detective #27 worth? The Church Action #1? My gut says $2,500,00 and $3,000,000 respectively.

I really need to rework the top ten article, don't I? When I wrote that I had the Church book valued at $2,000,000, the Allentown 'Tec #27 at 1.5 million and this book at $800,000. Times have changed!

You can read more about the sale at Comic Connect

Word on the street (okay, word on the internet) is that Comic Connect bought outright the 8.5 from its present and longtime owner. The price paid is reportedly more than the 1,075,000 paid for the Detective 27 at Heritage last month. It follows, therefore, that that asking price will be significantly higher than that. My estimate for the book after the recent sales was 1.5 million. We'll see how that number fares when it actually comes time for the book to change hands.

All I have to say is- what a month! My head is spinning.

To cut right to the punchline here, this is the 2nd best known copy of Action #1.

Yeah, I was surprised, too.

What about the "other" high grade copy, you ask? This is it.

Let that sink in for a while.

Stephen Fishler emailed me last night alerting me to that (remarkable) detail. I've been discussing this stuff with people for years and no one has connected the two books before now. Some people even wondered if the Kansas city copy was the "other" book. We had the story about Dave comparing two books and keeping the Church copy and we had the 8.5 copy in front of us in the CGC Gallery. I always wondered where that "other high grade" copy was and who had it. I now know that it's been hiding in plain site this whole time.

He said:

I asked Dave about it recently. The book that was later graded 8.5 is the 2nd best copy he had ever seen. He compared it to the Mile High years ago. The Mile high was clearly better.

So the anecdote about the "new" book that Dave compared to the Church copy was actually referring to the 8.5 we know and love.

This new info, of course, changes the landscape significantly both for the Church copy (now, clearly the best copy and only known 9.+ copy) and the Kansas City copy that just sold. Depending on how nice the Larson copy is, the KC copy could be the third best copy in existence. Which makes $1,000,000 seem like less of a premium price- which is probably why he had the above conversation in the first place. Negotiating a $1,000,000 comic book sale is tricky business.

I'll be reworking the $100,000 club list today. I'm going to rework the the World's Most Valuable Comics article to reflect all of these new data points (no "other" copy, the All American 16 CGC 9.4, the new Detective 27 CGC 8.0 and the Kansas City Copy.)

What a crazy week.