Auction Highlights #43 – ComicLink August

ComicLink August Featured Auction The ComicLink August Featured Auction has ended. I really like these Featured Auctions because they are not dominated by Silver and Bronze Age Marvels. In last month’s ComicLink Focused Auction 94% of the top 50 comics traded were Marvels. This time around Marvel represents only 42% of the top 50 books. DCs came in at 26%, original art 14%...

ComicLink August Featured Auction

The ComicLink August Featured Auction has ended. I really like these Featured Auctions because they are not dominated by Silver and Bronze Age Marvels. In last month’s ComicLink Focused Auction 94% of the top 50 comics traded were Marvels. This time around Marvel represents only 42% of the top 50 books. DCs came in at 26%, original art 14%, Timely’s 10% and there were issues from Archie, Zap, Phantom Lady and Uncle Scrooge also in the top 50 mix. There were some interesting results, so let’s have a look.

Amazing Spider-Man #11, Marvel Comics (Apr/1964) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with Off White pages sold for $21,250.00 on ComicLink on August 24th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $2,400.00. That’s about 9 times guide for a 9.6 that doesn’t even have White Pages! CGC 9.6 is a rare grade for this book, the ComicLink auction had this note:

In fact, out of the whopping 466 examples sent in to CGC, only 7 have reached CGC’s Near Mint tier of 9.4 and this stunning CGC 9.6 is 1 of only 4 in the world to reach CGC’s coveted “top dog” CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 grade. These statistics make this second ever appearance of Doc Ock one of the hardest to find in 9.6 with less than 1 percent of the examples submitted to CGC receiving this near unheard of grade (0.85% to be exact). With most of these “freaks of nature” examples cemented in awe-inspiring private collections, it is a rare occurrence indeed for an opportunity like this to surface.

 Don’t believe the hype! There are over 3 times as many Amazing Spider-Man #14s (1218 Universal blue labels) graded as there are #11s (398 Universal blue labels) and wouldn’t you know it there are just over 3 times as many 9.6s as well (13 9.6 ASM #14s vs. 4 9.6 ASM 11s). There are still a lot of very nice Spideys out there. People don’t generally grade their run books because cost is prohibitive. I predict an increase in ASM #11 submissions to CGC. Advantage Seller.

Action Comics #1, 5th wrap only, DC Comics (June/1938 ) Graded by CGC at 0.5 with Off White pages sold for $6,353.00 on ComicLink on August 24th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 2.0 is $80,000.00. Yes you are reading this correctly. This is not a poor copy of the complete book, this is a solid copy of just 1 of the pages (wrap actually so 2 pages or 4 sides). Has the world gone insane? There were 4 other wraps sold at this auction, wrap 6, 13, 14 and 15 also sold though wrap 5 got the most money mostly because one of the panels is portrayed on the cover (wrap 15 sold for a measly $850).Here’s the notes from the auction:

CGC has certified that this item is authentic and that it has supple Off-White page preservation. In addition to being an interesting collectible in its own right, this item would also make a fine piece for a restoration project where a high quality wrap is required. This is one of five wraps from Action Comics #1 included in this auction. Please note that we have listed this item as a PR 0.5, but it is actually graded NG by CGC. CGC’s NG (no grade) designation is not yet integrated into our system.

 I don’t know what to think of this. How far down the comic book food chain can something like this be done? Detective #27 for sure but how about Amazing Fantasy #15? Advantage seller.

Batman #1, DC Comics (Spring/1940) Graded by CGC at 3.0 with Off White to White pages sold on ComicLink for $28,027.00 on August 24th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 3.0 is $18,000.00. OK so the buyer knocks of one of the major keys in comics at a solid lower grade for just about the same amount of money that was dished out for the Amazing Spider-Man #11 and the page from Action #1. I strongly believe that Batman #1 is undervalued (Undervalued Spotlight #52). Advantage buyer.

Some very interesting stuff indeed. Next week I’m back on eBay looking for some interesting results.

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Price Guide Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.

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Frank Chang
Frank Chang
13 years ago

Walt you finally hit the nail with the hammer. Adv Seller on the ASM #11- no doubt on a non key book.