It's a newspaper, it's an abandoned piece of trash ... no, it's ... $9 million! That's what happened when a family discovered an old Superman comic in their mother's attic after her passing and it fetched millions at auction.
This was no ordinary comic. It was a Superman No. 1 comic book that a woman had kept in her attic in San Francisco where the temperate climate kept it in mint condition.
Family members told the media their mother had mentioned she had what she thought was a valuable comic in the attic, but they hadn't given it much thought until she passed away and they went to clean out her belongings. That's when they discovered the Superman No.1, which was released by Detective Comics Inc. in 1939. "It followed the introduction of the Man of Steel in a previous comic series that existed as an anthology, with the first print running 500,000 copies," the Good News Network reported.
The family contacted Heritage Auctions, and the rest, as they say ... “It was just in an attic, sitting in a box—could have easily been thrown away, could’ve easily been destroyed in a thousand different ways,” said Lon Allen, vice-president of comics at Heritage Auctions, the Texas firm that held the sale.
He added that when the comic book went up for auction, “A lot of people got excited, because it’s just every factor in collecting that you could possibly want, all rolled into one.”
The buyer and the seller want to remain anonymous, but the two sons in their 50s and 60s who sold the comic book discovered in their mother's attic did release a statement.
"This isn't simply a story about old paper and ink," one brother said in a statement released by the auction house. "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."