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October 2022 what copper Age covers are possibly fetching $1 million at auction?
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62 posts in this topic

Hard to say for sure, but here are the ones that I think could be contenders (from highest to lowest)

- Killing Joke #NN

- Uncanny X-Men #141 

- Dark Knight #1

- Uncanny X-Men #137

- Turtles #1 

- Secret Wars #8

- DD #181

- Hulk #340

- Wolverine #1 (Limited Series)

- Thor #337

- ASM #252

- ASM #328

- DD #168

- New Mutants #98

- Captain America Annual #8

- Secret Wars #1

- Punisher #1 (Limited Series)

- ASM #316

- Iron Man #128

I'm going to leave out Uncanny X-Men #275, X-Men #1 and Spider-Man #1 since I'd consider those Modern.  Also, I left out Uncanny X-Men #268 as it sold for $300k in 2020 (and also borders on Modern).  Not sure it'd break $1M two years later despite market appreciation.  

Edited by comiconxion
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On 10/3/2022 at 4:33 PM, comiconxion said:

Hard to say for sure, but here are the ones that I think could be contenders (from highest to lowest)

- Killing Joke #NN

- Uncanny X-Men #141 

- Dark Knight #1

- Uncanny X-Men #137

- Turtles #1 

- Secret Wars #8

- DD #181

- Hulk #340

- Wolverine #1 (Limited Series)

- Thor #337

- ASM #252

- ASM #328

- DD #168

- New Mutants #98

- Captain America Annual #8

- Secret Wars #1

- Punisher #1 (Limited Series)

- ASM #316

- Iron Man #128

I'm going to leave out Uncanny X-Men #275, X-Men #1 and Spider-Man #1 since I'd consider those Modern.  Also, I left out Uncanny X-Men #268 as it sold for $300k in 2020 (and also borders on Modern).  Not sure it'd break $1M two years later despite market appreciation.  

Great list, Chuck.  I think a few are definitely questionable choices, and it’s interesting to note how few DC books made your list.  Then again, I was trying to think of a few more Copper DC covers to level the playing field, and couldn’t come up with any.

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On 10/3/2022 at 2:39 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Good one!

When you think Crisis #7, you have to also think Uncanny X-Men #136... You can debate it, but I'd probably value the #136 more, and I don't see that one cracking $1M either.  Ultimately, Crisis #7 and the Death of Robin issues are some of the other more memorable DC 80's covers, but you can see with the Death of Robin issues selling recently, they haven't made it into that $1M range.  Ultimately Marvel is king, especially when it comes to original art prices.  Superman #75 could potentially get to that level, but again, that's Modern!  And, I debated Sandman #8 and Swamp Thing #34.  Although classics... just not sure they get to the $1M level (and I believe that Swamp Thing #34 was stolen years ago).  

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On 10/3/2022 at 7:58 PM, comiconxion said:

When you think Crisis #7, you have to also think Uncanny X-Men #136... You can debate it, but I'd probably value the #136 more, and I don't see that one cracking $1M either.  Ultimately, Crisis #7 and the Death of Robin issues are some of the other more memorable DC 80's covers, but you can see with the Death of Robin issues selling recently, they haven't made it into that $1M range.  Ultimately Marvel is king, especially when it comes to original art prices.  Superman #75 could potentially get to that level, but again, that's Modern!  And, I debated Sandman #8 and Swamp Thing #34.  Although classics... just not sure they get to the $1M level (and I believe that Swamp Thing #34 was stolen years ago).  

I would take the xmen 133 over the 136 any time.

See the source image

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On 10/4/2022 at 7:33 AM, comiconxion said:

Hard to say for sure, but here are the ones that I think could be contenders (from highest to lowest)

- Killing Joke #NN

- Uncanny X-Men #141 

- Dark Knight #1

- Uncanny X-Men #137

- Turtles #1 

- Secret Wars #8

- DD #181

- Hulk #340

- Wolverine #1 (Limited Series)

- Thor #337

- ASM #252

- ASM #328

- DD #168

- New Mutants #98

- Captain America Annual #8

- Secret Wars #1

- Punisher #1 (Limited Series)

- ASM #316

- Iron Man #128

I'm going to leave out Uncanny X-Men #275, X-Men #1 and Spider-Man #1 since I'd consider those Modern.  Also, I left out Uncanny X-Men #268 as it sold for $300k in 2020 (and also borders on Modern).  Not sure it'd break $1M two years later despite market appreciation.  

Very interesting picks🤔

I'm doubtful about Thor 337 as it's only beta ray bill, no Thor, if memory serves me correctly?

Completely forgot about X-Men 137, 141- and DD 168...definitely very strong contenders, agreed.

X-Men 142 is possible?  Death of wolvie?

Crisis 7 sure is iconic as is X-Men 136 but I think X-Men 136 would have a better chance at $1 million

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On 10/4/2022 at 8:18 AM, delekkerste said:

I think both of those fall way short of $1M, personally. I think the reality is that a lot of covers that were in the, say, $100-300K range 3-5 years ago are higher now, but, probably only a few of those would crack $1M today. Those pieces that were already $500-750K then, though, are likely $1M+ now. 

I mean, let's look at Heritage - if you exclude the Frazettas, underground comic art, and EC/horror art (incl. the Wrightson Frankie cover) to just get to true mainstream comic book art, here's what we've seen to date:

Secret Wars #8 page - $3.36M

DKR #1 cover - $2.4M

Hulk #180 page - $657K

ASM #328 cover - $657K

TOS #59 splash - $630K

Batman #251 cover - $600K

Batman #619 triple gatefold cover - $504K

FF #86 cover - $480K

ASM #100 cover - $478K

DKR #2 cover - $478K

So, really, we've only seen a handful of mainstream comic art pieces sell even in the mid-6 figures at auction. And literally zero pieces have sold in the high 6-figure range (there are, of course, two 7-figure pieces, one of which is considered to be an extreme outlier). My guess is that many of the pieces listed above probably sell in the mid-to-high 6 figure range and don't just surge past $1M without more mid-to-high 6 figure sales having laid the groundwork first. 

To be sure, some of the pieces mentioned thus far in this thread are (and have been for some time) $1M+ pieces, but, I think many of them fall short (far short in some cases). The pool of buyers in the lower 6-figure range ($100-300K) has definitely deepened, but, I think it still thins out pretty quickly after that. 2c 

I dunno about that.  I mean, many of the sales you’ve listed happened 5-10 years ago and surely they would benefit from the price escalation of the past 18 months.

As for the other items on Chuck’s list, I agree some are most likely not $1M covers. On the other hand, in today’s crazy market, we are consistently surprised by the high hammer prices at every HA auction so you never really know.

Finally, I would add the ASM 299 last page splash (1st Venom) to the list of $1M OA

Edited by jjonahjameson11
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The "Death in the Family" was a huge event, getting national coverage outside of comics. It featured one of the two biggest name superheroes (along with Spider-Man) and it came out during the Bat-Mania frenzy. Oh yeah, and the covers were drawn by a legendary super-star artist in Mignola. The 426 cover sold in 2018 for 34k. The 428 cover sold in June 2022 for 228k, and the 429 cover sold last month for 180k. 

 

Let's be real: Nobody cares about DC

:baiting:

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So, should we expect to see any $1M cover sales any anytime soon?  Probably not.  Why?  Because pretty much all of these covers are locked up with collectors who love them and frankly don't need to sell.  Without revealing any "non-public" info., here's a run down on where all the covers on my list currently lie.  

- Killing Joke #NN - This is the biggest piece that is unknown and if it were to come to market, it could set new records.

- Dark Knight #1 - Recently purchased by Jim Halperin.

- Uncanny X-Men #137, Uncanny X-Men #141 - Rumored to still be owned by Terry Austin.  But he hasn't wanted to sell in years.

- Secret Wars #8, Turtles #1, Wolverine #1 (Limited Series), ASM #252, Captain America Annual #8, Iron Man #128 - Owned by Eric Roberts and have been loaned out for various art exhibits over the years.

- DD #181, Secret Wars #1 - Owned by Dave Mandel and have been loaned out for various art exhibits over the years. 

- Hulk #340, ASM #316 - Owned by Joe Le.

- Thor #337 - Still owned by Walt Simonson and will allegedly be donated with his collection.

- New Mutants #98 - Owned by Tom Fish.

- Punisher #1 (Limited Series) - Painted cover owned by me; B&W art owned by Dave Mandel.

- ASM #328 - Purchased for $657k many years ago - not sure if owner has been publicly revealed.  

- DD #168 - Since I'm not sure this has been publicly revealed, I can say it is owned by a notable collector for 20+ years with no intention of selling.

Given the owners, I'm not sure how many of these would come up for public auction any time soon.  If they were to be sold, I would expect them to change hands via private channels.

So, what does that mean?  Well, we'll likely see Copper covers at the next tier (e.g., other McFarlane and key X-Men covers) attempt to push for the $1M level, but it may take a few years.  And, as seen with the Secret Wars #8 page, you could see key interiors like the ASM #299 interior challenge the $1M level, but there aren't many of those either.  But, it's more likely that you'll see Bronze and Silver Age material hit the $1M mark more frequently.

Edited by comiconxion
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