Two brothers found the comic book in a cardboard box under layers of old newspapers, dust and cobwebs in their late mother’s house in San Francisco.
A copy of the first edition of the Superman comic book, discovered by three brothers while cleaning the basement of their late mother’s house, was auctioned for 9.12 million dollars (7.9 million euros).
It’s the most expensive comic book ever soldaccording to auctioneer Heritage Auctions.
The brothers found the magazine in a cardboard box under layers of old newspapers, dust and cobwebs at their mother’s house in San Francisco last year. along with other rare magazines that his mother and brothers had collected in the run-up to the Second World War.
She had told her children that she had a valuable comic book collection hidden away, but they had never seen it until they put the house up for sale and decided to search the basement for family heirlooms.
“It was simply in a basement, inside a box. It could easily have been thrown away, it could easily have been destroyed in a thousand different ways. (…) A lot of people were excited because it brings together all the factors a collector could want,” said Lon Allen, vice president of comics at Heritage Auctions.
The comic book “Superman nº 1”, launched in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc., is one of the few existing copies and is in excellent condition.
“This is not simply a story about old paper and ink. It was never just a collectible item. It is a testament to memory, family and the unexpected ways in which the past finds a way to come back to us”, highlighted one of the brothers, citing a statement released by the auctioneer.
The ‘Man of Steel’ was the first superhero to enter pop culture, which, together with his unlikely story, helped increase the value of the specimen among collectors.
The previous record for the world’s most expensive comic book was set last year, when a copy of “Action Comics #1” – which introduced Superman to the world for the first time as part of an anthology – was sold for 6 million dollars (5.2 million euros).
