Heritage Auctions' February 22-24, 2012 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction became the highest earning comics auction conducted to date when it realized sales of more than $8.9 million over its three days. It topped the company’s previous world-record total of more than $6 million set in May 2011, and it grabbed plenty of media attention in the process of doing so.
“The mix of rarity, value and quality was simply irresistible to collectors,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage. “We knew that we had something special going in to this one, but we had no idea just how special. Now we know and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Consider this: before Heritage started Comics auctions more than a decade ago, no comic auction had ever exceeded $2.2 million. We’ve now almost quadrupled that.”
All prices below include a 19.5% buyer’s premium.
As expected given the pre- and post-auction coverage it received, the main focus of the event was the recently discovered, original owner Golden Age selection of comics dubbed “The Billy Wright Collection,” which realized $3.5 million by itself, led by Wright’s CGC 6.5 copy of Detective Comics #27. The comic brought $522,813, the third-highest price the Heritage Comics category has realized for any comic book or piece of original art in the comic category’s history.
“The Wright copy of Detective #27 was emblematic of the incredible quality of the collection,” said Lon Allen, Managing Director of the Comics Category at Heritage. “With just 345 comics in all, it featured fully 44 of the top 100 comics of all time, many in simply superb condition, which the uniformly great prices reflect.”
Other highlights from Billy Wright include Batman #1 CGC 8.5, which brought close to double the value listed in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide at $274,850, All-American Comics #16 CGC 8.0, which realized $203,150 (a record), and Captain America Comics #2 CGC 9.4, which realized $113,525.
The original comic art section was led by Bill Watterson’s original watercolor illustration for the Calvin and Hobbes 1989-90 calendar cover, circa 1988, which brought $107,550. Given the dearth of Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes art on the market, the price is a surprise but not a major one.
“We knew that collectors would love this piece,” said Todd Hignite, Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “Even so, we were impressed when this amazing rarity came in a double its estimate. Comic strip related pieces seldom command anywhere near this kind of money. Except for one Charles Schulz Peanuts Sunday strip, this is the highest price something from this genre has ever brought – quite fitting for such an iconic and important piece from the reclusive Bill Watterson.”
John Romita Sr.’s original cover art for Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 was the other piece of original comic art that broke the six-figure threshold, bringing $104,563 when bidding had finished.
“We thought this had the look of a six-figure item,” said Hignite, “and it certainly didn’t disappoint.”
