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Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5 Sells for $2,052,000 After Bidding Resumes at Comic Connect

Published Tue, 12 Jun 2018 20:17:34 -0500

by Mark Seifert

Last updated Tue, 12 Jun 2018 20:17:35 -0500

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Now it's official: an Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5 (white pages) has just sold for $2,052,000 at Comic Connect auction. The closing price for the 1938 comic, featuring the first appearance of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, is the third-highest price ever paid for a comic book, behind the $3,207,852 sale of an Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 in 2014, and the $2,161,000 sale of a different copy of Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 (the Nicolas Cage copy) in 2011.

Bidding on the comic was re-opened today after a last-minute website glitch prevented prospective buyers from entering bids in the final moment of the auction last night. Although the auction seemed to come to a close with a winning bid at the time, the decision was made to re-open bidding this morning in fairness to all parties involved.

With this sale now standing as the third highest price ever paid for a comic book, it's interesting to note that the pair of Action Comics #1 copies which rank above this sale are part of the Impossible Collection of high-grade vintage DC comics, owned by serious DC Comics fan and Vero co-founder Ayman Hariri. The CGC 8.5 copy which sold tonight is currently the third highest-graded unrestored copy on the CGC census, behind the two 9.0 copies.

In addition to being the third comic book sale to break the $2 million barrier, tonight's result becomes the seventh sale to surpass $1 million. The million-dollar comic book club now includes:

Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 for $3,207,852 in 2014
Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 Nicolas Cage copy for $2,161,000 in 2011
Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5 for $2,052,000 in 2018
Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5 for $1,500,000 in 2010 (same copy as the current 2018 sale)
Action Comics #1 CGC 8.0 for $1,000,000 in 2010
Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 9.6 (first appearance of Spider-Man) for $1,100,000 in 2011
Detective Comics #27 CGC 8.0 for $1,075,000 in February 2010

This morning, I noted that the ending glitch of last night's auction had potentially given the winner a bargain, even as it passed the $2 million mark. Tonight's result didn't change that much, and even at $2,052,000, it's hard to view this sale as anything other than an outstanding deal for the buyer. With the top two CGC-slabbed copies both owned by one very serious DC collector who likely won't be selling them any time soon, this CGC 8.5 copy could well be the best copy to have become available on the market for a very long time.

Congrats to the buyer, and for anyone in the market for a high grade Action Comics #1 over the next few years… good luck. More than ever, I have a feeling you're going to need it.