Rare Superman Comic Book

Rare Superman Comic Book Sells for $317,200

POSTED: March 14, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) — A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman has sold for $317,200 in an Internet auction. The previous owner of Action Comics No. 1 bought it for less than a buck.
It’s one of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book, a likely testament to the volume’s rarity and its excellent condition, said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles.

The winning bid for the 1938 edition, which features Superman lifting a car on its cover, was submitted Friday evening by John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band System of a Down, according to managers at ComicConnect.com.

In addition to being a musician, Dolmayan is a dealer of rare comic books. The auctioneers said he acquired the Superman comic on behalf of an unidentified client.

“I imagine it’s someone from the entertainment world,” said Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer at ComicConnect and Metropolis Collectibles.

Only about 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist and they seldom come up for sale.

“Maybe in a booming economy, it would have done a hundred grand more, but in this economy, I think the price is great,” Fishler said.

The man who had previously owned the book purchased it in a secondhand store in the early 1950s when he was nine years old. He paid 35 cents.

- Rare Superman Comic Book

Rare Harry Potter Book

March 10, 2009 -- Updated 1206 GMT (2006 HKT)

Rare Harry Potter Book Fetches $19,000 at Auction

Story Highlights The soft-cover "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is one of 200 copies. The 223-page book includes an autograph from author J.K. Rowling. The winning bid of $19,120 bypassed auctioneers' expectations

(CNN) -- A first-edition Harry Potter book was sold for about $19,000, according to an auction house in Dallas, Texas.
The soft-cover book was one of 200 copies printed and is a rarity compared with later editions of the popular series that were printed in the millions, the Heritage Auction Galleries said.

The book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," includes an autograph from author J.K. Rowling. It's the first book in the Harry Potter series and was published in the United States under the title "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."


The auction had estimated that the 223-page book would sell for as much as $12,000. The winning bid of $19,120 bypassed expectations, but it was not the most expensive sale of Harry Potter-related items in an auction. Last year, an 800-word prequel to the blockbuster Harry Potter novel series fetched nearly $50,000 for a writer's group and dyslexia charity. That prequel was handwritten and signed by Rowling.

- Rare Harry Potter Book