Jon Berk Collection Results Are In (Plus- Check Out the Podcast!)

Yes, it's true. I started a comics podcast. For now it's just me talking about the things I've always written about. At some point I'll be hitting up all of you for interviews and other content. You can subscribe using this link. It's going to be great. So, listen in above and check out the cool images below, or, if you'd prefer quiet time, then you can read on without my audio commentary.

Well, that was fun. Let's take a look at where the books and art I pointed out in advance ended up.

All New Comics # 8 Cover Art

Is this a bargain? Not a bargain? Is Golden Age original art completely impossible to value? The answer to the last one is yes. $66,000 seems like a small number to me for such a high quality cover by a legendary artist. I know it's a lesser title, but the quality of the image and the overall rarity of GA art makes me see this as a bargain.

Mary Marvel Comics # 5 Cover Art

This continues to be a great image in my mind and whoever owns it is lucky to have it. There are modern covers that sell for $15,000+ $16,000 for this one seems like a steal.

Planet Comics #1 Cover Art

$146,444 seems about right to me for this one. One the one hand it's a cool image and is the #1 issue of the flagship (my flagship, at least) Fiction House title. On the other, it looks like it's going to disintegrate if you're not careful so it's not a piece without some concerns. As I said before I'd love to see this piece restored.

Action Comics 1938 # 7 Court Copy

$188,000 is actually a disappointment to me. Mid grade copies of this book are already in this range. It seems to me like the provenance did nothing for the value of this book. I was expecting maybe $250,000 for this one. It got its grade value and no more.

Amazing Man Comics #22 CGC 7.0

Centaurs aren't my strong suit, but I'm feeling this result. $38,500 for a comic most civilians wouldn't even notice since it features no one they've ever heard of (although the green nazi gorillas might turn some heads.) This will be the second sale for this book in GPA- the first was the 9.0 Larson copy which sold for $5750 in 2003 (not a bad return!)

The Comics Magazine #1 CGC 9.0

Another one outside my comfort zone. I think the $38,000 it sold for is a strong result. People look at pre-hero books like a wasteland so it's nice to see a decent result for one of them.

Fantastic Comics #1 CGC 9.8 Edgar Church copy

What a killer book. And I think the result is very strong- selling for nearly 3x the Larson copy (CGC 9.4.)

Fantastic Comics #3 CGC 9.4 Edgar Church copy

I'm slightly (slightly!) disappointed in this result. I really wanted it to win the classic cover war with the Church Suspense Comics #3. In the end the Church Suspense book sold for nearly $20,000 more. Of the two covers I like this one better, so I was pulling for it. Still, $243,000 for a classic cover is pretty sweet.

Mystery Men Comics #1 Edgar Church CGC 9.0

The power of the Church copy compels you. This copy sold for $41,000, around $2,000 more than the Allentown #1 sold for in 2016. The Allentown copy is .2 higher graded. Killer result for the Church book here.

Punch Comics # 12 CGC 6.5

$22,500 is a good if not outrageous result for this cover.

All-in-all the classic covers in this collection did well and will probably spur even more interest in that corner of the hobby. To me, that's a great result all by itself. I love Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Marvel heroes as much as the next guy, but comics are more than just superheroes. Chasing classic covers are one of the things that keeps the hobby interesting and, to me, speaks to the most fundamental allure of the hobby. I always like to imagine encountering some of these classic images on the newsstand. You don't need to know that it's a first appearance or some great story. You just need to look and see the incredible images on these Golden Age covers to know comics are something special.

Before I go I wanted to point out that two restored/conserved books topped the lots in this auction. Jon's conserved Action Comics #1 CGC 5.5 sold for $393,000 (!!!!!) and his restored Detective Comics # 27 CGC 6.5 sold for $313,000.

Those are big numbers, right? I know that the scale of these books is such that the Action #1 is selling for 40% of the un-restored value (and the Detective #27 is similarly discounted) but it's still an non-blue labeled book selling for nearly $400,000. I mean, wow? Yeah, wow.