Auction Highlights #43 – ComicLink August • Comic Book Daily

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 24^th. 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, 5^th 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 24^th. 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 24^th. 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.