Comic book collectors and Walking Dead fans are abuzz after yesterday’s two record breaking sales of Walking Dead #1.
Two CGC 9.9 copies of Walking Dead #1 were posted on eBay as of yesterday morning.
One of the copies was ending at 11:24 AM PST and when the gavel fell it sold for a staggering $10,100. The auction was very active with 50 bids in total being placed.
There was another copy on eBay posted as a Buy it Now of $9,800. This copy sat quietly with no takers until 11:26 AM PST, 2 minutes after the above sale closed!
This is pure speculation but I’m assuming that one of the people that got outbid late in the game on the 1st sale jumped over to the other CGC 9.9 and casually hit the “Buy it Now” button.
Walking Dead #1, released in October 2003, has seen a steady rise in demand since the premiere of the Walking Dead TV series now airing on AMC. This fall’s Season 3 premiere was seen by 10.9 million viewers. It doesn’t hurt that the comics are really good too and that the premiere issue of Walking Dead had a small print run of 7,200 copies.
Interestingly enough the CGC 9.9 copy that just sold for $10,100 was actually purchased back in August of 2012 for $7,200. That’s a tidy little profit for sitting on a book for 3 months!
It seems flipping Walking Dead #1 at the CGC 9.9 grade has worked before. I dug up records on another copy that sold back on March 28th 2012 for $3,200, this copy resold 2 days later on March 30th for $7,000!
CGC 9.9’s have been all the rage lately, I’ve noted this in the my last few ComicLink Auction Highlights. Common 1980s and 1990s books have been getting crazy prices in the CGC 9.9 grades!
Remember the New Mutants #98 (1st Deadpool) CGC 9.9 copy that got $12,250 back in 2009? Everyone thought the buyer was crazy! Today that book is getting $6,300 (for its last sale) which is up from $5,700 it got for the sale before. Did that 1st buyer turn out to be right?
Sure there are now 4 CGC 9.9 New Mutant #98 vs. only 1 when it 1st sold but have a look at the Walking Dead #1, there are 7 Walking Dead #1 9.9s – plus 3 Sig series – so they are more common yet it doesn’t seem to dampen the demand!
Yes but there are way more New Mutant #98s out there Walt. Well, actually there are way less at the CGC 9.9 grade (4 vs 7).
Note to self: make time machine. Go back in time and buy these things when no one cared. Come back to now, make million.
It just shows how influential television is right now.
So, based on the performance of the New Mutant #98 CGC 9.9, issues of the Walking Dead #1 CGC 9.9 would go down in prices in the near future?
(I sold my copy of New Mutants #98 for $12 in the early 90’s…wooohoooo!!)
Maybe they will keep going up. This 9.9 market is evolving and it looks like the place to be, currently anyway. I think the 1st Deadpool guy may have been too ahead of the curve, maybe he ends up getting his money back plus some!! ??
Hey Stanley hopefully you kept your X-Force #2 (2nd Deadpool appearance!)
i don’t know Walt. i think CGC has done a disservice to the collecting community out there with these 9.8,9.9 and 10.0 grades. you certainly won’t see me approaching any books at those grades. i remember the days when a comic was vf/nm, and nm/mint. i really doubt there can be any discernible difference between those top grades. and all it does is price comics out of the every day budget.
Hey Nestor, we’re cut from the same cloth but these young guys coming through now like what they like and if they are deeming the best few existing copies of Walking Dead #1 to be the cat’s meow then who are a couple of old out of tune nerds like us to say otherwise.
I think CGC has helped some aspects of collecting and hut others.
I actually do! However, I do not think X-Force #2 will generate any interest in the collector/investor market place.
A pristine 2003 Honda Civic that has a perfect engine and no discernible signs of use or wear, and is technically in better condition than every other 2003 Civic that remains in existence…is still a Honda Civic. Not a classic car, not a Ferarri, not a Corvette, and not worth a second look by any person of taste. But, if guys want to spend $10G on something that is intrinsically almost valueless and inherently unimpressive as a collectible, good for them. I wonder what that issue of Walking Dead will be “worth” once the TV series ends and has faded from the popular memory.
Wow, so you’ve appointed yourself judge and jury of what is valuable and collectible.
If there were only 7200 2003 Honda Civics and suddenly a gigantic interest for those arose from nowhere the price would rise dramatically: supply and demand. The few in the best condition would sell for the most.
^ No, I’ve merely expressed a personal opinion on a subject that is, by definition and quite obviously, A MATTER OF OPINION. In fact the phrase above the box in which I’m now typing says “Share your opinion”. I wasn’t told that only judges and juries are permitted. The fact that a tiny minority of idiots with 10 Grand to burn disagrees with my opinion? Well, what can I say…their loss. Unless they convince an even greater, wealthier fool to buy their junk before the TV spinoff is retired…
(And BTW, while my car/comic analogy is admittedly imperfect, your attempt to extend it doesn’t improve upon it: the few best Civics would NOT sell for many, many multiples the price of all the others that exist in only marginally or negligibly “worse” condition, as is currently the case with a couple 9.9 issues of Waking Dead and the probably hundreds or thousands of 9.4s and 9.6’s).
people can spend their money wherever and however they like, that doesn’t mean that something is valuable nor collectible.
fads come and go, assets are constantly mispriced, and i can think up of dozens of comics, far more rare and far less expensive than a walking dead #1.
I just read that a CGC signed copy sold for over $22,000 in 2013 right after it was announced the fiscal cliff would be averted – This comic is seriously out of control!
http://t.co/OGqh0iHJ