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Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

bbc.com

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Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone wants to break the law to read things from their collection. Also the physical experience of reading is much different than digital. While you could store your collectable in a vault, many people enjoy displaying their collectables.

Sorry .. I didn’t realize that zipcomic.com was illegal .. I’d assumed the copyright had expired[0], and checking on DC Universe Infinite isn’t possible, since it’s geolocked and I’m not in a country deemed worthy of it. It’s probably available in Libby or Hoopla, legally. [0] It’s still copyrighted, although it seems that will expire in a decade or so, though. I guess I’ll read it then.

back in my day, we had these buildings called 'libraries' which were filled wall-to-wall with many different types of copyright material. Mainly books, but also comics, newspapers and magazines, that you could legally read and also borrow and take home for a few days, for FREE!!

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#33
post #20

What are the odds it's a forgery? Couldn't find any details on their grading method and how it was "positively identified to originate from the first print run of the issue" [0]. [0] https://www.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news...

For how they could tell it was from the first run, it says in the article you referenced:

> For decades, Allen says, nobody knew of a way to distinguish which copies came from that initial run. Then a grader noticed a key difference in a small in-house promotional spot advertising the upcoming Action Comics No. 14. In the first run, those ads included text reading “On sale June 2nd.” Subsequent print runs had updated it to “Now on sale.”

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry .. I didn’t realize that zipcomic.com was illegal .. I’d assumed the copyright had expired[0], and checking on DC Universe Infinite isn’t possible, since it’s geolocked and I’m not in a country deemed worthy of it. It’s probably available in Libby or Hoopla, legally. [0] It’s still copyrighted, although it seems that will expire in a decade or so, though. I guess I’ll read it then.

This might be genuinely the first time I can remember hearing someone say they don’t want to commit piracy. No offence, but who cares? Especially for something from 1939.

This comic is older than most (all?) HN users.

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#35
post #31

Does anyone know why this particular issue is so valuable? I'm assuming it's some mix of investment, timing, sentimental value, and rarity. But which ones particularly?

An earlier submission of the auction house source had some details like it's one of only seven copies that have a grading score over 6.0 (it scored a record 9.0), and one of only 100 ever of any quality ever auctioned there.

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#36
post #31

Does anyone know why this particular issue is so valuable? I'm assuming it's some mix of investment, timing, sentimental value, and rarity. But which ones particularly?

Your question is why is issue #1 of a very old and popular thing valuable?

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#37
post #31

Does anyone know why this particular issue is so valuable? I'm assuming it's some mix of investment, timing, sentimental value, and rarity. But which ones particularly?

the article explicitly states that this original Superman #1 is the highest graded copy of all-time

it’s valuable for the same reason the mona lisa is valuable. it’s iconic, it is a singular object, it is one of a kind, it is a stable investment vehicle. they ain’t making more of them.

Re: Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

#39
It is interesting to me that something like this can have such a high value. It speaks meanly for the our shared cultural global connection when it comes to items like these. For what purpose other than saying: “I have a …” would you buy this? Or is it the believe the price only goes up and it gets bought as an investment? I mean specifically this item with this high price. I ask because I think the price is only as high if the item in question is still cultural relevant. So I assume you buy it and start shadow produce new Superman projects :)
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