1963 "The Avengers" Comics #1 & #2
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GUEST:
When I was a kid, I would go down to a store in Pullman, Washington, and buy candy and comics, and my mom knew this, of course. And so one day, I'm at work, and she calls me and says, "I'm down at the auction," and they were selling stuff that people had left in storage units too long, and she said there were two boxes of comics, and did I want to, um, have her bid on them? And I said, "Sure," and so she brought them home, and in the box were these two comics. And, um, about five months ago, she calls me and I had a whole bunch of stuff in their attic, and she said she needed me to come and take them out of the attic because, um, they were taking up too much space and they were consolidating stuff.
APPRAISER:
Now, do you have any idea what she paid for the, uh, box of comics at auction?
GUEST:
Yeah, she paid $24 for the box.
APPRAISER:
Oh, Only one box.
GUEST:
Only...
APPRAISER:
But then you said there were two up for auction.
GUEST:
There were two boxes, and she looked in the other one, and there were some toys on the top, but comics underneath, and this one was filled with comics…
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm
GUEST:
So she bid on that one. Which, to this day, I kind of wonder what might have been (both laugh) in the other box.
APPRAISER:
(Laughs) Well, you brought in a tremendous collection of comics. But I chose only two.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
We have The Avengers #1 from September of 1963.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And The Avengers #2 from November of 1963. So the reason I chose these two comics is because right now, the Avengers are very big in the public consciousness.
GUEST:
Right... Yeah.
APPRAISER:
In 2015, Marvel Comics released their latest movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And you've got, coming out in his first movie very soon.
GUEST:
I heard about this! Ant-Man.
APPRAISER:
Ant-Man-- I mean, these are some of the most iconic Marvel superheroes. It is written by Stan Lee, the art by Jack Kirby, with just some, creators of such amazing, amazing characters, stuff we both grew up with, and grew to love. And then we've got The Avengers #2, and it introduces a new character, the Space Phantom, which, unfortunately, I don't think anyone really knows about anymore.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
One thing about comic books that you, that really changes the value on them, is condition. Now, these aren't in what we would consider mint condition.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Far from it.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
You've got creases by the staples, you, you've got a section here that is completely folded back.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
You've got what we call a rolled cover, which means the cover is slightly offset. Especially on this one, it's particularly bad. Do you have any idea what the value might be on them?
GUEST:
I honestly really don't.
APPRAISER:
At auction, in what we would consider unprofessionally-graded condition, this would sell for around $450 to $550.
GUEST:
Really? Wow! That's really cool.
APPRAISER:
But The Avengers #1, we estimate, in this condition, it would probably sell, at auction, for between $4,000 and $6,000.
GUEST:
No way, you are kidding me! In that condition? Wow, my mom is going to freak out! (laughs) I cannot believe that she kept them all these years. She's totally not going to believe this story. Seriously, wow! (laughing) Oh, my God, that is unbelievable! That is amazing! (laughs) I don't
even want to touch them now!
GUEST AND
APPRAISER:
(both laughing)
GUEST:
Mom, you did good!
GUEST AND
APPRAISER:
(both laughing)
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