: Heritage Auction Galleries conducted its most recent comic and
original comic art Signature auction January 19-21. In all, 2,860
bidders competed for 3,022 lots, with 529 successful bidders
pushing the overall total to $3,823,592, not counting
after-auction sales, which were still ongoing.
"The Mile High copy of Flash Comics #1 was the marquee comic in
our auction, and it didn't disappoint," said Ed Jaster, vice
president for Heritage Auction Galleries. "Not only did it set
our company's record for the highest price paid for a comic book
at $273,125, it topped the previous champion by $100,000. That
new benchmark is a sign that the market for high-grade vintage
comics is stronger than ever.
"Since we had a copy of each of the ten most valuable comics -
according to Overstreet's ranking - in this auction, an
achievement that we believe to be unprecedented, we knew there
would be frenzied bidding for those ten books. But we also had
two comics that aren't on that legendary list sell for over
$50,000 - the Mile High copy of More Fun Comics #73 - first
appearances of Aquaman and Green Arrow - went for $57,500, and
the best known copy of Superman #2 sold for $54,625," Jaster
noted.
"This auction also saw some of the most impressive results we've
seen for comics from the Silver Age and later, underlining the
strong demand for extremely high-grade copies of these books,"
Jaster added.
This Mile High copy of More Fun Comics #73 includes the first
appearances of Aquaman and Green Arrow; it went for $57,500.
"A NM 9.4 copy of The Flash #147 sold for $2,760, or 13 times
the 9.2 Guide price. And the sole 9.8 copy of House of Secrets #103
sold for $632.50, or a whopping 22 times Guide."
Heritage also saw strong prices for original comic art, with the
Ub Iwerks Mickey Mouse strip, one of the earliest pieces of
Mickey Mouse art known to exist, leading the pack at $74,750. Not
far behind were the Wally Wood cover for Weird Science #21
($46,000) and a Winsor McCay "Little Nemo" original with the
first appearance of Flip ($40,250).
"And of course, our Mad auction featuring the Mad magazine
archives made this auction special," said Jaster, "with Richard
Williams' cover art for Mad #322 selling for $10,925, and
in the Joke and Dagger department, the original art for the very
first Spy vs Spy strip sold for $11,500."
Additional auction highlights included Captain America Comics #1
Kansas City pedigree CGC VF/NM 9.0, $96,686; Human Torch #2 (#1)
CGC NM 9.4, $74,750; Action Comics #1 CGC Apparent VF- 7.5,
$69,000; Detective Comics #27 CGC Apparent FN 6.0, $61,065;
Batman #1 CGC VF- 7.5, $51,750; Alex Raymond Flash Gordon Sunday
comic strip original art, $23,000; and Walt Disney Studios,
"Gulliver Mickey" publicity illustration, $18,400.
Prices reported include buyer's premium. For information
800-872-6467 or www.HeritageAuctions.com.
