A copy of Captain America #1 could be heading for a world-record price when it hits the block at Heritage Auctions next month.
The rare book will be amongst the top lots in the company’s upcoming Comics and Comic Art Signature Auction, which takes place in Dallas on August 1-3.
The issue is graded ‘CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages’, with just one other copy in the world higher, and has been described as “among the most desirable comic books Heritage has auctioned to date”.
A copy of Captain America #1 could be heading for a world-record price when it hits the block at Heritage Auctions next month.
The rare book will be amongst the top lots in the company’s upcoming Comics and Comic Art Signature Auction, which takes place in Dallas on August 1-3.
The issue is graded ‘CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages’, with just one other copy in the world higher, and has been described as “among the most desirable comic books Heritage has auctioned to date”.
The current record price for an issue of Captain America #1 was set back in 2011, when a copy graded CGC 9.2 sold at ComicConnect for $343,000.
However, the 2018 Overstreet Price Guide now lists the value of a 9.2 copy at $460,000, so it seems likely that a copy graded 9.4 could easily soar above $500,000.
In an age where popular culture is dominated by comic book characters, it seems unusual that the record has remained in place since 2011.
But according to Heritage copies of Captain America #1 rarely appear on the open market, and the auction house has previously gone more than 12 months without offering a single copy.
Published in 1941, Captain America #1 features the first appearance of the iconic Marvel superhero who was originally created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as a direct reaction to the rise of Nazis across the Atlantic.
The cover of his debut comic book famously features the Captain America punching Adolf Hitler, although it was published a year before the U.S officially joined WWII.
Despite political objections from some quarters, the book sold 1 million copies and proved an instant success for Timely Comics (which would later become Marvel Comics in 1961).
Some experts in the hobby have speculated that the copy could become only the fourth comic book in history to pass the $1 million mark.
If so, it would join an exclusive club that includes Action Comics #1 (first Superman), Detective Comics #27 (first Batman) and Amazing Fantasy 15 (first Spider-Man).
A seven-figure sum would certainly mark a huge jump in value for the Golden Age key title, but is far from out of the question due to the book’s high grade and the growth of the rare comic book market in the past eight years.
And that’s without mentioning the influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Back in 2011 the character had just made his debut as part of MCU in Captain America: The First Avenger, and the franchise was still finding its feet.
Fast forward to 2019, and Captain America has since starred in a further seven films, becoming one of the best-loved big-screen heroes of the past decade.
Although a chapter in the character’s cinematic life may have come to a close in the recent Avengers: Endgame, it could be his birth on the printed page almost 80 years ago which puts Cap back in the headlines next month.
