Near Mint DC Comic - Batman's debut
bassie
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Classic comic: Near-mint copy of DC 27, Batman's debut found in atticPublished: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 | 9:44 AM ETCanadian Press: THE ASSOCIATED PRESSELLWOOD CITY, Pa. - Holy collectibles, Batman!A near-mint copy of Detective Comics No. 27, a pre-Second World War comic featuring Batman's debut, was recently found in an attic and sold to a local collector.The comic is considered to be the second-most valuable available and can fetch up to US$500,000. The only comic considered more valuable is Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman makes his first appearance.Collector Todd McDevitt said the Batman issue he bought is worth about $250,000, but he won't say exactly how much he paid or who sold it to him."It was a typical story of someone cleaning up junk in their attic and finding an old comic book and wondering if this was one of those ones that was worth a lot of money," McDevitt told the Beaver County Times.McDevitt, owner of the Pittsburgh region's five New Dimension Comics stores, said he has been saving money since 1986 so that he could buy a valuable comic when it appeared.When the seller walked in with the Batman issue, "my eyes almost popped out of my head," McDevitt said."I guess I should have been more reserved, but I'm not a very good poker player," he said.Experts estimate there are between 20 and a few hundred copies of the Batman debut.McDevitt's comic now sits safely in an airtight bag in a bank vault. On occasion, he takes it out to show friends and customers."I've been toying with the idea of reading it, but I haven't yet," he said. "I'm going to savour it."
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"The diamond in the rough that an Ellwood City man came across recently may not be what it seems.
Todd McDevitt, owner of a string of New Dimension Comic stores in Ellwood City, recently purchased a Detective Comics #27 from 1939 that features the first appearance of Batman.
According to countless comic book Web sites such as Metropolis Comics and Nostomania, this particular comic is the second most valuable comic book in the world, and a mint condition copy is supposedly valued around $500,000. Near-mint condition copies are priced around $250,000.
According to the Comic Guaranty LLC, or CGC, which is a third party grading service for comics, no copies have ever been found in mint condition and only one copy has ever been found in near-mint condition
The story even made national headlines appearing on the Yahoo home page Wednesday morning.
However, the undisclosed amount that McDevitt allegedly paid for his copy, which has been speculated to be six figures, may not be worth what McDevitt originally thought.
According to Greg Eide and Ken Kropf of Eide's Entertainment in Pittsburgh, before approaching McDevitt about purchasing the comic, they believe the same seller came to them inquiring about how much the piece was worth.
"He (the seller) called on Sept. 22 before stopping in around 1:30 p.m., and I spoke with him until around 4:30 p.m.," Kropf said. "He brought in 70 books, all of which he claimed were found in an attic and had belonged to his grandfather."
According to Eide and Kropf, as they were sorting through the books, they noticed that several Detective Comics, including the #27 appeared to vary in size. They both said this led them to think that some of the books may have been trimmed, meaning the edges have been cut to make the book appear less worn thus increasing the value.
"Of the 70 books, I would say about half of the books had been trimmed," Eide said.
Kropf added that he believed more had been done than just trimming of the books.
However, there were some inconsistencies with the books that led Eide and Kropf to believe the books were "not from an attic collection" but were from a pieced together collection.
According to Kropf, the Detective Comics #27 was clearly smaller than the other Detective Comics that came from a later time, which Kropf said is a virtual impossibility.
He further stated that DC Comics were good at quality control, and something such as this is highly unlikely as comics got smaller over the years, not bigger.
Eide and Kropf added there was a More Fun Comics #52, which also is a valuable Golden Age comic book and features the first appearance of the Golden Age Spectre, that was trimmed a quarter of an inch on all open sides.
"We offered the seller a fair price for the true value of the true state of the books," Eide said.
He also said they encouraged the seller to have the book graded by the CGC and Eide said he even handed the seller the CGC form, but the seller did not take it with him.
Eide and Kropf said the seller refused their offer, and that's when they believe the seller made his way to McDevitt's doorstep with the Detective Comics #27.
Now, McDevitt said he has heard of the rumors circling the comic book world, and he feels that there has been nothing done to alter the originality of the book, and said he has had several other comic book experts look at the book and support his thought.
McDevitt said it's a nice copy, and doesn't think someone would be able to pull one over on a 20-year comic book aficionado.
According to Brian Kettering, an advisor with the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, which is widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and collection values in the industry, he said it would be in McDevitt's best interest to get a grading on the Detective Comics #27.
However, McDevitt said that having the comic book graded is not in his immediate future, but will have to eventually if he decides to sell.
McDevitt said that he has several interested parties right now, and has a guarantee from the original seller that the book is in its genuine state.
But Eide is "willing to throw the gauntlet down", and has put a $1,000 offer on the table for McDevitt to get the book graded.
Eide said if the book comes back and the grade says it has been restored, than McDevitt would have to pay him $1,000, and if the book comes back with a universal rating that it has been untouched, then Eide would pay McDevitt $1,000, which incidentally is the cost to have it graded. "