ComicConnect’s March Auction
ComicConnect held a huge auction in March with big sales of Golden Age and Silver Age comics. Everything from DC to Marvel, from EC to Archie sold in this auction and led to a dominating performance by one of the biggest auction houses in the hobby.
I Hope ComicConnect enjoys its reign; the early April Heritage auction had some huge sales that will likely put them in first place in next month’s review.
Timely Captain America is #1
First place on the March Chartbusters list goes to a 7.0 graded copy of Captain America Comics #1, which sold for $300,150. While it’s a big sale, it’s also down 3.8% from a May 2022 sale in a Heritage auction, and down 11.7% from a March 2022 sale in an earlier ComicConnect auction.
We’re continuing to see declines in mega-key early Timely issues in the big auctions, although the dips overall don’t look to be as severe as what we’ve seen in Silver and Bronze Age books.
Key EC Issues Setting Records
Three EC comics made our top ten in March. The first was Crime SuspenStories #22 with its well-known gruesome Johnny Craig cover coming in at #4. A 9.4 graded copy sold in the March ComicConnect auction for $90,112.
It’s the only recorded sale in this grade and the highest grade to ever sell, making this a record. While there are two copies with higher grades in the CGC census – a singular 9.8 and a lone 9.6 – neither has ever sold.
A 9.8 graded copy of Mad #1 was up for sale in the ComicConnect auction for the first time in more than a decade, and this one was a William Gaines file copy. The final price when the hammer dropped was $81,000, the highest price ever paid for this comic, besting a 2011 sale by nearly $62,000.
Now, if only the owner of that 9.9 graded copy of Mad #1 would ever auction it off we could finally see this comic take its rightful place as a six-figure comic.
And finally, a 9.0 graded copy of Vault of Horror #12 sold for $31,280. The first issue in the series (issues #1 through #11 were titled War Against Crime) is tied for one of EC’s first horror comics. The sale set an overall record for price paid for this comic, beating the previous high of $29,900 paid for a 9.2 graded copy in 2002, and the only other copy of Vault of Horror #12 to sell for more than $15,000. It’s a key book that has seen a big spike in value, and we still haven’t see that one 9.4 graded copy ever go up for sale.
Rare First Archie Sale
The March ComicConnect auction also saw the sale of a copy of Pep Comics #22 for the first time in nearly a year and a half. Marking the first appearances of Archie, Betty, and Jughead, the restored 3.0 graded copy sold for $29,000. There are only 32 graded copies in the CGC census – and 13 of those are restored or conserved – so any sale is a rare occurrence.
The sale marked a $5,000 increase over the $24,000 paid for a restored 3.5 in a November 2021 Heritage auction. The previous sale of a universal graded copy was $66,000 for a CBCS 3.0 graded copy in a June 2021 Heritage auction.
Doctor Doom Tops Silver Age List
Coming in at #1 on the March Silver Age Chartbusters list is a CBCS 9.4 graded copy of Fantastic Four #5. The $126,000 sale is the highest price paid for a CBCS-graded copy, although it pales in comparison to the $180,000 paid for a CGC graded 9.2 copy in the September 2022 Heritage auction.
This sale is just a snapshot of the disparity between the values of CGC and CBCS-graded copies. While this is certainly not news to most collectors, the difference between the two can sometimes equate to huge dollar amounts as in this case.
First Silver Age Flash Flat
Sometimes sales in the big auctions confirm trends rather than revealing them. Take the sale of a 6.0 graded Showcase #4 in the March ComicConnect auction as an example. This copy sold for $27,000, not far off from all sales in this grade since 2015: $28,950 in 2015, $27,485 in 2016, and $26,400 in 2019.
That’s a fairly consistent trendline over eight years. In real dollar values adjusted for inflation, it’s actually a slight decline. If you’re a buyer or a seller, you would be hard-pressed to pay or sell much outside that very limited range.
Do you track the big sales of comics? What do you think the March numbers reveal about the state of the hobby? Let us know below.
