Superman vs. Overstreet
There was a nice batch of Golden Age Superman comics posted on eBay last week. I thought it would be interesting to see how they performed relative to the Price Guide.
Superman #11, DC Comics (7-8/41), graded by CGC at 7.0 with White pages sold for $1225.51 on eBay on January 17th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 7.0 is $1269.50. This comic book sold for 96.5% of Overstreet guide value. Very solid, very desirable book sells for about guide.
Superman #13, DC Comics (11-12/41), graded by CGC at 5.0 with Off White pages sold on eBay for $660.51 on January 17th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 5.0 is $682.50. This comic book sold for 96.8% of Overstreet guide value. Again a solid Golden Age book gets very close to guide.
Superman #20, DC Comics, (1-2/43), graded by CGC at 8.5 with Off White to White pages sold on eBay for $1726.50 on January 19th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 8.5 is $1864.50. This comic book sold for 92.6% of Overstreet guide. Once again, a solid Golden Age Superman sells for very close to guide but not over. I see a trend.
Superman #24, DC Comics, (9-10/43), graded by CGC at 6.5 with Cream to Off White pages sold on eBay for $915.11 on January 17th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 6.5 is $1021.25. This comic book sold for 89.6% of Overstreet guide. The trend is now reinforced even more. Bids are going high but not above guide.
Superman #14, DC Comics (1-2/42), graded by CGC at 3.5 with Cream to Off White pages sold on eBay for $960.00 on January 17th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 3.5 is $740.25. This comic book sold for 130.0% of Overstreet guide value. Finally, a book that bucks the trend. This one doesn’t surprise me though. Issue #14 is very sought after and the lower grade made it more affordable to own. Bidders go slightly over the invisible Guide barrier to snag this book.
So there you go. Solid quality Golden Age Superman comics getting just under guide. Condition was not a factor since we had 5.0s to 8.5s represented. Page quality didn’t seem to matter since we had White Pages and Cream to Off White getting the same percentage. Bidders seemed to have pegged their buying against the guide, thus validating it. Guide wins!
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Price Guide Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
