Matilda Omonaiye/
A remarkably preserved 1939 first edition of Superman No. 1, long forgotten in an attic and one of the rarest comic books ever printed, has sold for a record $9.12 million at a Texas auction.
The comic, part of the very first standalone Superman series, was uncovered last year by three brothers clearing out their late mother’s San Francisco home.
Hidden in a cardboard box beneath piles of brittle newspapers and heavy dust, it lay untouched for more than eight decades, alongside several other rare titles collected by their mother and her sibling on the eve of the Second World War.
Though she had occasionally mentioned owning valuable comics, her children had never seen them.
Preparing the house for sale, they decided to sort through her belongings for family heirlooms.
That search led them to the box of comics and eventually to Heritage Auctions, whose vice president of comics, Lon Allen, flew to California to verify the extraordinary find.
“It was just sitting in an attic, could easily have been thrown away or destroyed in a thousand different ways,” Allen said. “It combines every factor collectors dream of.”
Released in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc., Superman No. 1 is considered one of the holy grails of comic collecting. It launched the Man of Steel as the first true superhero in popular culture, and only a small number of the original 500,000 copies are believed to survive.
A tiny in-house advertisement confirmed this copy belonged to the very first printing run.
The cool Northern California climate helped preserve its sharp corners, strong spine and bright colours, earning it an exceptional 9.0 grade from CGC.
The sale eclipses last year’s $6 million record set by an Action Comics No. 1, which first introduced Superman.
Another Superman No. 1 sold for $5.3 million in 2022, far below this latest result.
The brothers, aged in their 50s and 60s, and the buyer have chosen to remain anonymous.
In a statement released by the auction house, one of them reflected on the emotional weight of the discovery: “This isn’t simply a story about old paper and ink. This was never just about a collectible. This is a testament to memory, family and the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us.”
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