$1.1 million would buy Peter Parker a lot of web fluid, and maybe even leave some money left for a decent apartment. But in the “real” world, $1.1 million is the new going rate for a mint condition version of Spider-man’s first appearance. According to Stephen Fischler, CEO of ComicConnect.com, a private buyer purchased the CGG 9.6 copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for $1.1 million this week in a private transaction.
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Wowzers! I was so disappointed when they told me that the 1 million I offered didn’t cut it.
I wonder what my mediocre copy of Amazing Spider-man #1 would go for…
My shop has a reprint of this and are selling it for $2.
So yeah that guy really overpaid…
@TheNextChampion he didn’t overpay at all. He paid a price he thought was fair. When you’re dealing with rare or one-of-a-kind items, that’s all that matters. The only one who really knows if he overpaid is his accountant. 🙂 And if the buyer is who I think it is, he has more than enough in his coffers to buy any comic book he wants without anyone noticing.
@Wood: It was a joke on how you could buy this issue for che…..Never mind.
I wonder how much of this is investment and how much of it is passion?
i trade waited on this series. Shoulda got it in issues! oh yeah i wasn’t alive yet. Maybe i’ll swing by the goodwill on the way home and see if i can win the lottery with a find. =)
@stuclach for the buyer? 99.9% (or more) passion. No one spends $1.1 million on a comic book because they think it’ll make them money. Now that said, high end collectibles have almost always gone up in value over time, so ultimately it may be worth much more.
@Wood That’s what I expected.
I’m not sure I’d say “no one spends 1.1 on a comic book because they think it’ll make money”. I’d probably say no one SHOULD spend 1.1….
@stuclach Fair enough, there are no absolutes. But I know a number of high end art collectors (fine art), as well as quite a few high end comic book collectors, and the majority of them (if not all of the ones I know personally) never purchase something because they think it will make them money. They pay what they think they have to, to acquire something they covet.
@Wood — i totally agree with you on that. From everything i’ve read about art collectors they always talk about the love of the work first and foremost. If you love abstract expressionism, you usually don’t invest in impressionism if its not your passion.
Someone who buys this not only has the means, they also much truely love comics and spiderman to justify it to themselves. That being said, this kind of thing will prob only appreciate in value.
While my purchases of key Silver-Age back issues are definitely based on my passion for the particular issue or the series, news like this is a nice silver lining for some collectors — I’m glad I decided years ago to hold out for copies at the higher end of the condition scale. I agree with Wood here – the context is everything with this news.
I’m the exact opposite, since I collect down around VG – F conditions. There has been such an explosion of high-end collectors who would not dirty themselves on a VG book, it makes those VG books, even keys like Amazing Spider-Man #1 way more affordable for “regular” collectors who want the books, but are not looking a them as investments for their retirement. I’ve gotten other keys like Showcase #22 & Brave & Bold #28 in VG 4.0 – 4.5 condition very cheap. In fact I have gotten CGC’d books in $.0 – 5.0 for half guide since the CGC collectors market mostly focuses on the higher grade stuff.
@Wood Makes sense.
Has anyone seen what early silver age original pages go for these days? If I had that kind of scratch, that would be my itch.
I still can’t bring myself to slab my Avengers #4. I occasionally like to look at it’s innards.
@Wolfdog –if it makes you feel any better, i was talking to a guy who specializes in art on paper who had some opinions on why slabbing is bad He and several others in his community have a theory that slabbing your comics will actually cause them to disintegrate faster. Paper needs to breathe and be kept in optimal temperatures to stay archival. Encasing it in plastic may cause it to turn to dust. =)