Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: auction, beano

Beano #1 Breaks The Record For The Most Expensive British Comic Ever

Beano #1 breaks the record For the most expensive British comic book ever at £30,940 at auction last week.

Published Tue, 03 Sep 2024 06:57:09 -0500

Article Summary

Beano #1 from 1938 sold for over £30,000 at auction, breaking the record for the most expensive British comic.
The comic, with its original two pence price, included a rare free gift, a Whoopee Mask, and an 8-page flyer.
London-based Comic Book Auctions sold the issue to an anonymous bidder, previously selling it for £6,800 in 1999.
Beano, known for characters like Lord Snooty and later Dennis the Menace, has sold over two billion copies worldwide.

Beano, the second longest-running comic in the world, has seen its first issue published on the 30th of July, 1938, sold for more than £30,000 at auction last week. This has made it the most expensive British comic ever sold, and slightly more than its original cover price of two pence or 2d. Only a handful of copies are believed to still exist from the 443,000 copies that were initially sold. This copy is believed to be the only complete copy as it still has a free gift of a Whoopee Mask, which came with the original issue, mounted on the cover, and a promotional 8-page flyer for Beano #1 and #2.

Beano #1 Breaks The Record For The Most Expensive British Comic Ever

London-based firm Comic Book Auctions sold the comic to an anonymous bidder, who paid £30,940, or $40,610 including buyer's premium. The company had previously sold the same copy in 1999 for £6,800. The previous British comic record holder was a first issue of Dandy from 1937 which sold for £20,350 in 2004, complete with its own free gift, a whistler pipe.

The first issue included long-running Lord Snooty and his Pals, as well as less remembered Big Eggo, Morgyn the Mighty, Whoopee Hank and Tin-Can Tommy the Clockwork Boy. It would be a couple of decades before the more familiar characters Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, Roger The Dodger, Billy Whizz and The Bash Street Kids were introduced.

The Beano is a British anthology weekly comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson, though it was fortnightly during and just after the Second World War. Its legacy is in its misbehaving characters, escapist tales and anarchic kids humour, with spin-off books, Christmas annuals, a website, theme park rides, games, cartoon adaptations, and a production company. The Beano has sold over two billion copies in its time, though not at £30,940 each, of course.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!