Three times over the last six months, an old, 10 cent comic book has sold for $1 million or more. And that has a whole bunch of people frantically rummaging through their attics and basements, treasure hunting.
However, the biggest recent find—in the basement of a home on the verge of foreclosure—wasn’t the result of a methodical hunt, but rather “a very happy accident,” says New York’s Stephen Fishler, co-owner of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Collectibles, the world’s largest vintage comic book dealer.
Fishler and his business partner, Vincent Zurzolo, will be displaying their new find at Comic-Con in San Diego. They already brokered two of the three record-breaking sales, including the unprecedented $1.5 million sale of an Action Comic #1, the legendary comic that introduced Superman to the world. That particular copy was unearthed in true, buried-treasure style, hidden in a stack of old movie magazines.
The newly discovered comic is also an Action Comic #1, and it’s also in very good condition. But in this case, Superman really did save the day.
The comic was found by a couple facing eviction from the home that had been in their family since the 1950s. After her father passed away, his daughter and her family moved in. To pay off some business expenses, they took out a second mortgage, but once the recession hit, they couldn’t make the payments.
The bank began foreclosure proceedings, and tearfully, they started packing. When, low and behold, in the basement, they found some old comic books, including a well-preserved Action Comic #1. Online research led them to ComicConnect.com, and the rest is the stuff of fairy tales.
Although it hasn’t yet been graded, Fishler guarantees that the comic, to be auctioned after Comic-Con, will bring in more than enough to pay off the mortgage. (Of course, the bank didn’t believe this real-life fairytale until Fishler personally confirmed it. Now, the foreclosure is on hold.)
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