Somewhere in the American South, a family just got saved by the Man of Steel.
The anonymous family was in the midst of foreclosure on their home. While packing up their belongings and preparing to leave the house that had been in their family since the 1950s, they discovered a copy of Action Comics No. 1. The rare comic book was published in 1938 and features the first appearance of Superman.
From an article on ABC News:
“The bank was about ready to foreclose,” said Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Comics and Collectibles in New York. “Literally, this family was in tears. The family home was going to be lost and they’re devastated. They can’t figure out a way out of this. They start packing things up. They go into the basement and start sifting through boxes – trying to find packing boxes – and they stumble on eight or nine comic books.”
Most of the comic books in the box were worth between $10 and $30 but one – dated June 1938 and depicting the Man of Steel lifting a car above his head – was extremely rare. That issue, which originally sold for 10 cents, is considered to have ushered in the age of the superhero.
“It’s a tremendous piece of American pop culture history,” Zurzolo said. The couple learned online that ComicConnect.com had brokered the record-breaking sales of Action No. 1 copies for $1 million in February and then $1.5 million one month later. They immediately texted a cell phone picture to the firm’s co-owner, Stephen Fishler.
The comic book will be up for auction on their website later this month, and could fetch up to $250,000. It is not in as good condition as other copies that have sold for much higher prices. But it still plenty to save the family house.
According to the article, the recession has had a silver lining for comic book collectors. More people are digging up treasured comics from their attics and basements. In the last year and half 7 copies of Action Comics Number 1 have turned up for sale. Only 100 copies are believed to be in existence.
BizSense covered the comic book collecting industry last year with a profile on Brett Carreras, owner of Brett’s Comic Pile. Below is a video of Carreras showing off the pride of his collection, Batman Number One, which was worth about $10,000 at the time.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/4095888[/vimeo]
(Note: The comic pile has since left the Broad Street location depicted in the video.)
Somewhere in the American South, a family just got saved by the Man of Steel.
The anonymous family was in the midst of foreclosure on their home. While packing up their belongings and preparing to leave the house that had been in their family since the 1950s, they discovered a copy of Action Comics No. 1. The rare comic book was published in 1938 and features the first appearance of Superman.
From an article on ABC News:
“The bank was about ready to foreclose,” said Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Comics and Collectibles in New York. “Literally, this family was in tears. The family home was going to be lost and they’re devastated. They can’t figure out a way out of this. They start packing things up. They go into the basement and start sifting through boxes – trying to find packing boxes – and they stumble on eight or nine comic books.”
Most of the comic books in the box were worth between $10 and $30 but one – dated June 1938 and depicting the Man of Steel lifting a car above his head – was extremely rare. That issue, which originally sold for 10 cents, is considered to have ushered in the age of the superhero.
“It’s a tremendous piece of American pop culture history,” Zurzolo said. The couple learned online that ComicConnect.com had brokered the record-breaking sales of Action No. 1 copies for $1 million in February and then $1.5 million one month later. They immediately texted a cell phone picture to the firm’s co-owner, Stephen Fishler.
The comic book will be up for auction on their website later this month, and could fetch up to $250,000. It is not in as good condition as other copies that have sold for much higher prices. But it still plenty to save the family house.
According to the article, the recession has had a silver lining for comic book collectors. More people are digging up treasured comics from their attics and basements. In the last year and half 7 copies of Action Comics Number 1 have turned up for sale. Only 100 copies are believed to be in existence.
BizSense covered the comic book collecting industry last year with a profile on Brett Carreras, owner of Brett’s Comic Pile. Below is a video of Carreras showing off the pride of his collection, Batman Number One, which was worth about $10,000 at the time.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/4095888[/vimeo]
(Note: The comic pile has since left the Broad Street location depicted in the video.)