Posted in: Comics | Tagged: auctions, Batman, captain america, vintage

Another Big Auction Night, with Batman #1, Captain Marvel Jr. #1, and Caps Aplenty

After last night's gigantic Action Comics #1 sale, followed by some pretty nice Golden and Silver Age keys, it would be real easy to think that things will go back to being quiet for a little bit until the next big auction, but last night was only the beginning.

Kicking off tonight's auctions is a Batman #1, graded 6.0 Moderate Professional Restoration by CGC. A 6.0 copy designated as Extrensive Professional Restoration graded one just sold this November for $10,755 — well shy of the $13,800 that tonight's auction finished at, but that's the way the market for restored comics works.  A CGC Extensive (P) 3.5 copy sold this evening, for $9,900, a very healthy price for a Batman #1 with Extensive restoration in this grade.

The auction for Batman #3, the third appearance of Catwoman, and the first in her own costume, illustrates the intricacies of the restored comic market. This August, an unrestored CGC 8.5 condition copy sold for $7,469, but a similarly graded copy, albeit with some slight restoration, sold this evening for only $3,330.

Depending on how you want to look at things, tonight's Batman #5, in CGC 7.5, was either a bargain or a price correction. The last copy of the Bat-headed Batmobile's first appearance to sell in this condition sold for $4,049 in 2007, with eight sales prior to that all going for around $2,200, and tonight's sale was far closer to the latter, selling for $2,705.

Moving away from the Bat, it's time to look at some officers, specifically Captains. The first Captain, Captain America, was big in this auction, with the highlight being Captain America Comics #1, graded 5.0 Extensive Professional Restoration by CGC, finishing tonight at $8,400 — an extremely strong price for an Extensive (P) Cap #1 in this grade.

Many of the high grade unrestored Captain America Comics that come later in this auction all have a nice markup compared to previous sales – an 8.0 #5 at $5,901, up from $3,900; an 8.0 #6, at $5,500, up $500 from the last sale in this condition; and an 8.0 copy of #7, selling for $7,100 after selling for $6,500 this July in the same grade.

The highlight of the evening thus far though is a different Captain, Captain Marvel Jr. The highest graded copy ever for the first issue, with an outstanding Mac Raboy cover, sold for $24,000. The closest comparison would be a CGC 8.5 that sold for $5,079 in February 2010, but that's nowhere near in this one's league. Considering how hard it is to find high-grade Golden Age keys like this, I could easily have seen this auction hitting $30K, so I'm going with this one being a bargain too.

Coming up in a couple of hours, we'll have more auctions from tonight to break down.

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