Arsa
A rare, near-pristine copy of Action Comics No.1 from 1938, featuring the first appearance of Superman and believed to be a copy once stolen from Nicolas Cage has sold for $2,161,000, the first time a comic has topped $2 million at auction. The previous record was $1.5 million for 8.5 grade copy of Action Comics No. 1 sold in March 2010.
The comic book has a rating of 9.0 which means it is near-mint condition. Only 100 copies of this comic is rumored to be existing, and very few of them are in a good condition. The issue was auctioned starting Nov. 11 online at www.comicconnect.com. The starting bid was just $1 but there was a reserve price of $900,000, far more than the 10 cents it sold for when published in 1938.
This comic also has the distinction of being on the block twice before;, once in 1992 where it fetched $86,000 and again was sold in 1997 for $150,000.
ComicConnect/Metropolis COO Voncent Zurzolo told: The buyer was extremely excited about the prospect of bidding on this. I think he had an adrenalin rush for the last two hours. As soon as he won it, he gave me a call and thanked me. He’s very excited to have it. This is a guy who loves owning the best of the best.
The identity of the buyer has not been revealed, but it’s hard to imagine it being your average comic book collector.
