Heritage has had a strong start to 2021 with a $12.11 million Comics & Comic Art Auction. The sale, which closed on January 14-17, attracted over 5,000 bidders from around the world and totaled over 50% above the presale estimates. As part of the comics and art auction, Heritage offered Pokémon cards and video games with each surpassing $1 million in sales.
“Item for item, this was simply the strongest comics auction we have ever held,” Heritage Co-Chairman Jim Halperin said. “And it comes on the heels of our record-breaking $22-million Fall Sports Collectibles event last month, proving, yet again, there is significant diversification into collectibles these days whether for enjoyment or as a hedge against inflation. On top of all that, we brought the world’s best copy of Batman #1 to auction for the very first time and set a record in doing so.”
That Batman #1 CGC 9.4, the finest known copy of Batman’s first self-titled comic, sold for $2.22 million. It set the record for highest price paid for a Batman comic book and is now the second highest selling comic at public auction.
Another important Batman sale was Detective Comics #359 CGC 9.8 from the Alfred Pennyworth Collection that hammered for $132,000.
Major Marvel sales included Captain America Comics #1 CGC 8.5, which sold for $384,000, and a Near Mint Daredevil #1 CGC 9.6 that totaled $102,000.
Among the original art sales was the X-Men #272 two-page splash by artist Jim Lee and inker Scott Williams that topped $132,000. This features the dominate lineup of Wolverine, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Gambit, Psylocke, Cable, Cannonball, Banshee, Sunspot, and Archangel.
Closely following that sale was Sal Buscema’s Sub-Mariner #35 original cover featuring Hulk, Silver Surfer, Namor, Iron Man, Thor, and Goliath, that achieved $102,000. Another piece of art to break six figures was Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon Sunday strip from August 9, 1936, that also hammered for $102,000.
All of the results realized in Heritage’s Comics & Comic Art Auction can be viewed on their website.
