Daredevil 132 Hits New Record (Filter 81 sale)

The Daredevil 132 Marvel 30 Cent Price Variant has always been a tough, sought-after book for several reasons. First, this has always been one of the toughest super-hero 30 cent price variants, particularly in high grade.

Second, Daredevil has remained popular and the story arc that started in the previous book #131 where creator Marv Wolfman introduced Bullseye is one of the best of the Bronze Age of comics.  The book was inked by Klaus Janson who would late team up with Frank Miller to do the phenomenal Daredevil-Kingpin-Punisher-Bullseye-Elektra story that kept readers thirsting for the next issue to hit the newsstands. I still can't believe that the movie stunk as a bad as it did. Issue 132 is the second appearance of Bullseye.

Third, the book is crazy tough in high grade. The black areas and contrasting yellow areas of the cover show defects like crazy.  The book also contains a Series "B" Marvel Value Stamp #63: Stan Lee. Many otherwise nice books were cut up for that Stan Lee value stamp.

The condition census for the book is a single highest 9.8 followed by two 9.6s and five 9.4s.  A total of 22 books have been graded. The only other time that a CGC certified 9.6 came up for sale was exactly ten years before the sale of this book, back in 2004, where it fetched $500. A high-grade 9.4 sold in 2012 for $508.

When Filter81 listed this book, I was very excited to see what kind of interest the auction would generate. The answer was a lot. $2259.  That is a new record and a new entrant into the four figure club.

 

 

Here is a nice bonus for the post, a scan of the single highest graded 9.8.





GPA variant report for April 2014; record prices for Jungle Action 21 and Iron Fist 13

Every so often I post the GPA variant report that is produced by GPA every month.  As I have written before, I highly recommend GPA to high-quality comic collectors, especially high-quality variant collectors.  Overstreet does not come close to a correct value for these books - GPA is the only useful guide and as you will see in upcoming posts - GPA is only a guide, each sale can bring a new high.

As you can see from the report, there were a couple of highlights for the month.  Here is the sale of the Jungle Action 21, one of the toughest 30 centers particularly in high grade.  The black cover and low distribution of this book add to the difficulty.  $565 is a record price for this issue which isn't surprising because it is the single highest graded of only six specimens.  This book also doesn't come up for sale very often.  The only comparably graded book sold for $82 back in 2005.  Pretty solid appreciation for a hard-to-find 30 cent variant.  One 9.2 on the census and only one 9.0 on the census.

Another record sale propelled Iron Fist 13 into the rapidly growing Four-Figure club.  This book was purchased as a Buy-It-Now Best Offer for $1700.  This 9.4 is one of two highest graded books of this ever-popular Iron Fist issue.  How often does this book come up for sale in high grade?  The previous high sale was a 9.0 for $282 back in 2004.  Yes, 10 years ago.  There are still only 10 of this issue that have been certified.

Super-Villain Team-Up 13 Joins the Four Figure Price Variant Book Club

An absolutely sensational copy of Super-Villain Team-Up in CGC 9.8 sold on ebay for $1000 which puts S-V T-U 13 in the Four Figure Price Variant Book Club.  It should be noted that CGC 9.8 price variants are exceedingly rare.  There are 184 different (185, if you count the Captain America 212 blank bar) issues in the set.  Just 10 BOOKS total out of the 184 ISSUES have achieved the CGC Mint grade of 9.8.

What are the implications?  If Super-Villain Team-Up is worth four figures in 9.8, then just about any other 35 cent price variant is worth at least $1000.  This makes sense as I don't know of any copies of a 9.8 35 cent price variant that have sold for less than $1000 except for an Avengers book which sold for over $900 many years ago.  The other thing that is interesting is that with the exception of the Avengers books, the other 9.8s are all second or third tier titles.  I think that because of their rarity, CGC is really tough on price variants, particularly the big titles.  It would be a big-time event if a 9.8 Spider-Man or X-Men book showed up.  Two 9.6 Spider-Man books and one 9.6 X-Men book are the top of the census.

2001: A Space Odyssey 8 (never sold)
Avengers 162 (never sold)
Avengers 163 ($925 in 2008)
Black Panther 5 (Four Figure Club)
Invaders 18 (never sold)
Kull, the Destroyer 21 (never sold)
Nova 10 (never sold)
Nova 12 (never sold)
Super-Villain Team-Up 13 (Four Figure Club)
Tarzan 3 (Four Figure Club)

Avengers 147 30 cent price variant latest addition to the 4 Figure Club

A sensational example of Avengers 147 30 cent price variant was recently auctioned by Heritage.  It is the latest price variant issue to crack the $1000 dollar barrier.  It is not surprising because of the popularity of the Avengers movie, the popularity of the Avengers comic book title, and the popularity of the marvel price variants.  The single highest graded example of this issue by two grades (followed by 2 9.4s) this auction was sure to bring the excitement and it did not disappoint.

X-Men 106 35 cent price variant in CGC 9.2 Off-White to White Pages Breaks $1000 barrier

The 2nd highest graded copy of the 35 cent variant issue of X-Men 106 recently sold on ebay for $1000 which means this issue joins the $1000 club for price variant sales.  One of two copies that have received a grade of 9.2, this book trails only one book that has been graded higher at 9.6.  Regular issue copies certified in 9.2 trade for $50, so the price of the variant issue is twenty time higher than the regular issue.

What is the 9.6 worth?  A premium for certain since the book is a single highest graded copy right in the sweet spot of bronze age X-Men greatness.  Twenty times the regular issue value of $150 in CGC 9.6 would be $3000.  Who knows?  What we do know is that there have been 553 copies certified of the regular issue and only 13 copies certified of the variant issue.  Putting together a complete set of high grade X-Men price variants is a major challenge.

Amazing spider-man 157 in CGC 9.8 sets record in Comiclink feature auction

A beautiful copy of Amazing Spider-man 157 in CGC white sold for $1628 in the May 2011 Comiclink Feature auction. This is one of two highest graded copies of this variant issue and the first to come up at auction. The is the first sale of a certified spider 30 cent price variant to break the $1000 dollar barrier but it is also the first sale of a 9.8 graded spidey book to close at auction. 9.8 copies of issue 155 have sold in private treaty sales for near four-figure amounts.

This price is approximately fifteen times the amount of a regular issue 9.8.  The previous high sales price for a price variant copy of this issue was $510 for a 9.6 copy.

Iron Fist 14 in CGC 9.2 brings $4625

One of only three Iron Fist 14 certified by CGC in 9.2 was sold by ComicLink for $4625 in an exchange (as opposed to auction) transaction.  This is truly an important book and there is still only one book graded higher at 9.4.  The last sale of a 9.2 was in October of 2008 for $4100.  Regular issue 9.2s of this issue sell for about $250 or 1/20th of the price variant amount.  Here is an interesting back of the napkin calculation - regular issue 9.8s sell for around $2000 so if a 9.8 Iron Fist 14 price variant issue is ever found would it go for $40,000.  What do you think?

Two four-figure sales of Iron Fist books in one month begs the question of which price variant issues have broken four figures.  There will be others but only if and when the books are ever found and if and when they come up for auction, particularly high-grade mainline titles like Spidey and X-Men and the exceptionally rare war, western, horror and Hanna Barbara books.  Here is the list of the ones I know of including some near four figure books.  This is a list you won't find anywhere else.  If you know of another transaction that I need to add to the list, please let me know.

Amazing Spider-Man 155 CGC 9.8      $950.00
Amazing Spider-Man 171 CGC 9.6   $1,150.00
Incredible Hulk 200 CGC 9.8            $1,434.00
Iron Fist 5 CGC 9.8                           $1034.00
Iron Fist 14 CGC 9.4                        $5,100.00 (and fifteen other four-figure sales)
Kid Colt ebay raw                                $800.00 +
Kid Colt ebay raw                                $800.00 +
Kid Colt 220 CGC 9                            $925.00
Kid Colt 208 CGC 8                            $800.00
Kid Colt Outlaw 219 CGC 5.5             $799.00
Rawhide Kid 141 CGC 5.5                  $786.00
Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos 141 CGC 7     $999.00
Star Wars 1 CGC 9.6                      $26,250.00 (and thirty other four-figure sales)
Star Wars 2 CGC 9.4                        $2,700.00 (and five other four-figure sales)
Star Wars 3 CGC 9.2                        $1,950.00 (one of two four-figure sales)
Star Wars 4 CGC 9.6                        $2,151.00 (one of two four-figure sales)
X-Men 98 CGC 9.6                          $1,875.00 (one of three four-figure sales)
X-Men 99 CGC 9.2                             $975.00
X-Men 100 CGC 9.4                        $1,825.00 (one of two four-figure sales)
X-Men 105 CGC 9.2                        $1,026.00 (one of two four figure sales)
X-Men 107 CGC 9.2                           $910.00