MOST VALUABLE MODERN VARIANTS - THE RANKINGS (UPDATED) 1 1

[valiantman]

THE MOST VALUABLE MODERN VARIANTS - THE RANKINGS

#1   Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2011) Pichelli Sketch Variant

Limited to 20 copies, as reported by Diamond, available to retailers who ordered 5,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout #4 Second Prints between the dates of August 25th and August 29th, 2011.  There are 6 CGC graded copies on the CGC Census.  This book features Miles Morales in the first few months of his existence.

There are only two sales recorded for this book and they are both +50% higher than sales for Amazing Spider-Man #667 Dell'Otto variant in the same grade (or even a higher grade) nearest to the sale date.  Undeniably, the most valuable modern variant of all time, and so rare that regular sales just don't happen.

Ranks #2 through #20 should really be the other 19 copies of this book because whatever is next is not even close.

Yes, it's entirely possible that Marvel (or some other publisher) will produce a book with just 15 copies, or 10 copies, or even 5 copies in existence, but will it be for the second appearance (and origin) of a character this important ten years later? Unlikely. It's much more likely they'll just limit a book with a nice cover to less than 20 copies so they can get some "rarest ever" headlines, and no one will care what happens in the book.  Even if it's the greatest cover art for "classic" Spider-Man of all time, it will be at least 59 years after his arrival.  Manufactured, artificial, nothingness in a pretty wrapper.  That's how it almost always works with super-rare variants.  The pages inside don't matter.  Speaking of...

Rank #21 - Whatever book you put here doesn't come close to the credentials of the book above - Diamond confirmed print run of 20, the insane requirement to earn the book in the first place, the extremely low CGC census ten years later, higher sale prices years earlier, and an important character in his/her first months of existence.  Other books you might list next have dozens of additional copies ALREADY on the CGC census, and they aren't anywhere near the first appearance and origin of the main character.

Any other list that doesn't have this book at the top would be ridiculous, but if someone was interested in books that definitely aren't as important as the book above, I guess they could use this list and just add 1 (or 20) to whatever those rankings are.

Edited April 29, 2021 by valiantman
added a link for info about other, lesser, books.

[valiantman]

No, I don't have a copy.

[valiantman]

You ever notice how these lists are usually just books that the author already owns?  That's weird how that happens.

I still don't have a copy.

[valiantman]

John Jackson Miller of Comichron.com wrote an update to his Ultimate Fallout #4 analysis.  

https://www.comichron.com/faq/ultimatefallout4sales.html

He believes there are only about 54,000 to 60,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout #4 Second Printing combined.

Since Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2011) Pichelli Sketch Variant required retailers to order 5,000 copies of the UF #4 2nd Prints during a 5-day window, even if all of those copies were ordered that way, there would only be 12 copies earned (60,000 divided by 5,000 copies per order).

It's very unlikely that all 54,000 to 60,000 were part of orders of 5,000, so the number of copies of this book earned by retailers is likely to be under 10.  Maybe only 5 or 6 were earned this way.

If Marvel produced 20 copies, required a multi-thousand dollar order of reprints during just 5 days of opportunity to earn one, and only 6 have been graded by CGC ten years later, it's pretty clear this is the rarest Marvel comic (particularly a comic with any significance on the pages inside the book - early Miles Morales story, second appearance, origin, first issue of a new series) of all time.  Where are the other 10 to 14 copies?  It has been ten years.

With more Miles Morales media coming, this could easily be the biggest modern variant story this industry will ever see.

I wish I had one. 

I don't.

Edited April 29, 2021 by valiantman

[FlyingDonut]

Off the top of my head, the retailers who might have ordered 5,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout 4 are:

• Bedrock City Comics
• Mile High Comics
• Graham Crackers Comics
• New Dimension Comics
• Midtown Comics
• Laughing Ogre Comics

In fact, I'm pretty sure Ogre did as the guy who ran it at the time understood the variant game. That's about it - you'd need a bunch of stores and demand, etc. Someone should check with @bedrockcomics on this.

[Mercury Man]

It's always amazing how some of these 'most valuable variants', are really 'blah' covers,   
I mean this sketch variant is booooriiinng.... and the Del Otto 667, not even close to some of his best covers. 

Meh, glad I have no skin in the game. 

[valiantman]

23 minutes ago, Mercury Man said:

It's always amazing how some of these 'most valuable variants', are really 'blah' covers,   
I mean this sketch variant is booooriiinng.... and the Del Otto 667, not even close to some of his best covers. 

Meh, glad I have no skin in the game. 

For this much money, you could get a commission from the artist to exact specifications of your imagination.  It's a different game entirely to pay that much and get a "mass-produced" item, even if the mass is only 20.

[manetteska]

20 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Off the top of my head, the retailers who might have ordered 5,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout 4 are:

• Bedrock City Comics
• Mile High Comics
• Graham Crackers Comics
• New Dimension Comics
• Midtown Comics
• Laughing Ogre Comics

In fact, I'm pretty sure Ogre did as the guy who ran it at the time understood the variant game. That's about it - you'd need a bunch of stores and demand, etc. Someone should check with @bedrockcomics on this.

Not 5,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout #4, but 5,000 copies of the 2nd print.

[WolverineX]

20 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

It's always amazing how some of these 'most valuable variants', are really 'blah' covers,   
I mean this sketch variant is booooriiinng.... and the Del Otto 667, not even close to some of his best covers. 

Meh, glad I have no skin in the game. 

man, you are right.  That is a terrible cover.  

[FlyingDonut]

47 minutes ago, manetteska said:

Not 5,000 copies of Ultimate Fallout #4, but 5,000 copies of the 2nd print.

Yep - you're right.

Edited April 30, 2021 by FlyingDonut

[Tnexus]

There's always overage on the printings. Copies for the artists, other important people, etc. I'd be shocked if anything less than at least 100+ were printed.

That being said, what I'm not saying is that I believe 100+ still exist.

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

Nice "rankings".

...a top 5 (at the very least)

 

***I hate that I have to comment on "rare" books that are artificially generated

Edited May 10, 2021 by AnthonyTheAbyss
"quotation marks"

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

(Not mine)

There is one on ebay. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143838362191

 

[MetalPSI]

20 hours ago, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

(Not mine)

There is one on ebay. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143838362191

 

Probably no more than 10, maybe 20

Just poor poor logic 

I have 2 books of which definitely no more than 10 were ever printed. You want to know the print run was. It was 10

Only 8 of one and 3 of the other were ever graded.

Guess what, nobody cares. But I have 2 extremely rare books.

Ghosts indeed

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

Probably no more than 10, maybe 20

Just poor poor logic 

I have 2 books of which definitely no more than 10 were ever printed. You want to know the print run was. It was 10

Only 8 of one and 3 of the other were ever graded.

Guess what, nobody cares. But I have 2 extremely rare books.

Ghosts indeed

So what are they? 

[MetalPSI]

Just now, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

So what are they? 

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

1 minute ago, Dr. Dank said:

 

Those are sweet! 

BTW.. 

I would disagree with this. 

7 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

nobody cares.

I know it is not as popular right now, but I have always enjoyed Maxx and both these and the Ashcans have been going up. If they would just do another show or make a movie these would gain a TON of attention.  

That aside there are still several of us out there that would love to own those books. Congratulations.  

[MetalPSI]

1 minute ago, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Those are sweet! 

BTW.. 

I would disagree with this. 

I know it is not as popular right now, but I have always enjoyed Maxx and both these and the Ashcans have been going up. If they would just do another show or make a movie these would gain a TON of attention.  

That aside there are still several of us out there that would love to own those books. Congratulations.  

Thanks. I suppose I should say not many care. I thought about selling these but someone had suggested to make sure I let them go for what I feel they are worth to me, because I will most likely never ever see them again. 

So I doubt very much anyone wants to pay 25k apiece for these.

But maybe you're right. One day 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Just now, Dr. Dank said:

Thanks. I suppose I should say not many care. I thought about selling these but someone had suggested to make sure I let them go for what I feel they are worth to me, because I will most likely never ever see them again. 

So I doubt very much anyone wants to pay 25k apiece for these.

But maybe you're right. One day 

There are several members here who use the free posts on ebay to place things for sale at the,   " I do not care if I sell this, but if you are going to pay that price  number "  then they just let it ride. Sometimes the market catches up and they get their asking price, sometimes the book blows up and they sell it, other times it just sits and sits. Only one way to really tell as this current market has been crazy.

You never know , one of those GME or Crpto millionaires might see those and know how hard they are to come by and not really care about price.  

[MetalPSI]

7 minutes ago, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

There are several members here who use the free posts on ebay to place things for sale at the,   " I do not care if I sell this, but if you are going to pay that price  number "  then they just let it ride. Sometimes the market catches up and they get their asking price, sometimes the book blows up and they sell it, other times it just sits and sits. Only one way to really tell as this current market has been crazy.

You never know , one of those GME or Crpto millionaires might see those and know how hard they are to come by and not really care about price.  

Doesn't help my ebay limit is only 10k