TheRare

The World of Rare Comic Books: Amazing Spider-Man #1

Filed under: Auctions

In the world of superheroes, Superman may be have the most other-worldly power, but it's Spider-Man who twinges the heart-strings. Perhaps it's his familiarity -- weren't you, too, that nerd in high school? -- or perhaps it's his tragedy, what with his unknowing part in his uncle's death. Either way, two of the most expensive comic books ever sold at auction are issues of Amazing Fantasy 15, the series in which Spider-Man was first introduced in 1962.

One of the rarest comic books still in existence in near-perfect condition is an issue of "Amazing Spider-Man #1," rare not only because of its singularity but also because of its quality. The comic book sold for only 12 cents per copy when it was published in March 1963, and is now worth over $40,000 -- not an exceedingly high price for comic books (the most valuable, first appearance of Superman in "Action Comics 1," is said to be worth $350,000) -- but extremely rare in such pristine condition.

In 2002, a comic book shop in Manhattan was broken into, and a particularly rare copy of "Amazing Spider-Man #1" was stolen, by a "gentlemanly" robber holding a duffel bag containing a rifle and handcuffs. He tied up the store owner while he picked the desired issues -- certainly a scene right out of the pages of his contraband. If only Spider-Man was real ...

Tags: amazing-spider-man, comic books, ComicBooks, comics, rare, spider-man, the rare, TheRare

The World of Rare Books: The Gutenberg Bible, First and Most Valuable

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

There are countless rare books in the world, but by most expert's standards the rarest of them all is the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first book ever printed back in 1456, and although several hundred copies were originally printed finding a complete first edition would net you $25-$35 million. In today's market single pages alone go for $25,000 each, and several years ago just 1 volume (it's a 2 volume set) sold for $5.5 million.

Besides the Gutenberg Bible other rare books include the first edition of Shakespeare's collected works from 1623 (worth $6 million), a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts (potentially worth as much as $100 million), and of course any first edition copy of the Declaration of Independence (worth $8 million). Edgar Allen Poe's work also makes in onto the "rarest books" list with his first published poem ("Tamerlane") being rare and difficult to find due to a byline of simply "By A Bostonian." It's worth as much as $200,000 to the right buyer.

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Tags: Bible, book, books, Declaration of Independence, DeclarationOfIndependence, Edgar Allen Poe, EdgarAllenPoe, first edition, FirstEdition, Gutenberg, rare, rarest, Shakespeare, the rare, TheRare