Heritage Signature Auction
The Heritage Signature Auction, held on April 2, dominated the Comic Chartbusters list for April. There were a couple seven-figure sales and a number of six-figure sales. The bulk of the big sales were Golden Age superhero comics, but there were some others that merit analysis.
First Batman Ties Recent Record
First place on the April Chartbusters goes to Detective Comics #27. A 6.0 copy sold in the April 2 Heritage auction for $1,740,000, tying the price paid for a 6.5 graded copy in the May 2022 Goldin auction. That’s the highest recorded price paid for a copy of Detective Comics #27 in any grade.
There are eight copies graded 7.0 or higher. It’s been well over a decade since one of the two 8.0 graded copies sold for $1,075,500, and the lone 8.5 and 9.2 graded copies have no recorded sales. So, for now, this sale of a 6.0 ties the highest recorded sale – until a higher grade is up for sale.
More Batman
The other seven-figure book sold in the April 2 Heritage auction was an 8.0 graded copy of Batman #1, which went for $1,110,000. That’s a 24% drop from the previous sale in this grade: $1,440,000 in a September 2021 Goldin auction. There are nearly four times as many graded copies of Batman #1 (296) as there are of Detective Comics #27 (76).
Whereas the sale of Detective Comics #27 was the only sale this year, six graded copies of Batman #1 have sold so far in 2023. Three of those sales occurred in the April 2 Heritage auction, likely leading to some degree of diminution in bidding. If there are three copies of a comic available in one auction – no matter how important that comic may be – any perceived rarity is reduced by the seeming plenitude.
First Marvel Comic Takes a Tumble
In what had to be a slightly disappointing sale, a 7.5 graded copy of Marvel Comics #1 with white pages sold for $675,000. A 6.0 copy with off-white to white pages sold in the September 2022 ComicConnect auction for $729,000. Yes, that copy was part of the Kansas City pedigree collection but that doesn’t fully account for the reduced sale of the 7.5 copy.
Chalk it up to market doldrums. Perhaps we’ll see a higher sale in the near future, marking this as a temporary backslide for this book.
Disappointing Sale for First Riddler
The singular 9.6 graded copy of Detective Comics #140, a Promise Collection pedigree copy of the Riddler’s first appearance, sold for $360,000. That’s a drop of 21% from the sale of this exact same copy in a June 2021 Heritage auction.
It’s possible that dilution caused by multiple copies of the same comic in the same auction could be the reason for the drop in price, along with the downward trending market.
First Dr. Fate Sets Record
An Edgar Church (Mile High) pedigree 9.6 graded copy of More Fun Comics #55, the first appearance of Dr. Fate, sold for $264,000. That nearly doubles the previous high for this comic – a 9.4 graded copy selling in a September 2021 ComicConnect auction for $136,000.
More Fun Comics #55 continues to set new highs in all but the lowest grades, and we’re all but certain to see a trickle-down effect in lower grades from this sale.
First Horror Comic Sets Record
Widely regarded as the first horror comic (at least the first with original material), Eerie #1 set a new record when the 9.2 graded Promise Collection pedigree copy sold for $108,000. This same copy sold in a June 2021 Heritage auction for $90,000, marking a tidy 20% return for the seller.
Pre-code horror continues to perform exceptionally well in the big auctions, and Eerie #1, as the first horror comic, continues to set the pace.
Archie #1 Flat
A 6.5 graded copy of Archie Comics #1 sold for $66,000. The first sale in this grade since 2015, the price barely budged from a $61,000 sale in a March 2015 ComicConnect auction. In terms of present dollar value, it marks a relative decline for this key issue.
We saw the same thing when an 8.0 graded copy sold after a seven-year gap in an April 2021 ComicConnect auction for $120,000 – a $2,567 drop from the 2014 sale. Despite the rarity of sales of Archie Comics #1 in the mid to higher grades, this comic does not look like a solid bet for investors.
Do you track the big sales of comics? What do you think the April numbers reveal about the state of the hobby? Let us know below.
