eBay: Action #1 Restored 5.0 First app. Superman 1938
Seller: diamondintlgal ( 643) Final Tally: $47,035.00
That's one of the highest totals ever for a comic book on eBay. I should really track that a little better. Maybe folks on the forum can help me put together a list…
Here's the description:
"First Appearance of Superman
Restored Copy Siegel Shuster Story and Art Zatara Tex Thomson Bernard Baily Art 1938 Publication
For all intents and purposes, this is the book that started it all. The cover, dated June, 1938, is legendary and has almost become as iconic as the hero that graces it, Superman. As a hero he has come to represent the best of the comic industry. His history and origin is long and very well documented. With the upcoming Superman Movie, he will be every where this summer.
Many forget that the book was actually an anthology. The Superman story opens the book and is in full color. The following story features Chuck Dawson in a 6 page B&W story. The remaining stories are in color, except the one noted: Zatara, South Sea Strategy (text), Sticky-Mitt Stimson (Humor), The Adventures of Marco Polo, Pep Morgan (boxing by Fred Guardineer), Scoop Scanlon Five Star Reporter (6 pages of B&W), and Tex Thomson (12 excellent pages by Bernard Baily).
The book closes with a one page feature on the stars Fred Astaire, Constance Bennett, Charles Boyer and Wheeler & Whoolsey. The inside back cover is a sports fact sheet with drawings. It looks a lot like Ripley's Believe it or Not. A drawing of Lou Gehrig dominates the page.
This copy has been restored professionally. The restoration is considered to be moderate. It has been cleaned, pressed and reinforced.
The pages are cream to off-white.
The cover still has a nice reflective gloss, but there is a light amount of wear. The apparent grade is 5.0 VG/FN. The grade was determined by three people with a combined grading experience of over 75 years.
We cannot supply additional scans of any of the pages. We do not want to damage the spine in any way, shape or form.
We will be unable to respond to requests for more detailed scans of the cover. It was scanned at the best ratio we could load into eBay.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
The 2005 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide lists the book at $485,000 for NM-, $231,000 for VF and $115,000 for FN.
It is thought that there are around one hundred copies of this issue in the marketplace. That may be open to debate, but you cannot argue that the book is the most valuable comic book in the collector's marketplace.
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