There Are Still Six-Figure Books to be Found in the Attics and Walls of Old Houses
- by Michael Stillman
Superman was introduced to the world with a bang.
There's nothing quite like the story of finding a valuable old book in an attic, garage sale, eBay, or the like. Once in awhile, these dreams actually come true. One man who can attest to this is David Gonzales, from Minnesota.
Mr. Gonzales is a small contractor. Normally, he is hired to help people with remodeling projects. However, this time, with some money put aside, he bought a small home himself, a “fixer-upper” to fix up. The plan was to resell it when he finished.
His find was not in the attic or basement. It was fortunate he was a remodeler, as otherwise he never would have found it. When he started pulling the walls off his 1938 house, he found old newspapers which had been used as insulation. He also found something else. Hidden in the walls was a copy of ActionComics#1, published in 1938.
To those not aficionados of comic books, that may not mean anything. To those who are, it is the “holy grail” of comic book collecting. It is the most valuable comic book ever sold. A copy sold for over $2 million at auction recently. This comic is no joke. What makes it valuable is that ActionComics#1 introduced the character of Superman to the world. He remains without peer. There have been many other superheroes introduced over the years, and Batman could give him a run for his money, but ultimately, there is only one superest of the super, and that is Superman. Clark Kent could not have imagined what he was starting when first he put on a cape in a phone booth (aside:wheredoesSupermandressnowthateveryoneusescellphones?).
Now, Mr. Gonzales' copy is not worth $2 million. That copy was the best one known, a 9 on the 10-point comic grading scale. This copy only comes in at a 2. Seventy years in the walls can do this to you. Actually, it was probably not so much the years in the walls, where darkness preserved its colors, but the lack of care exhibited in sticking it in the walls in the first place. It was somewhat brittle and not as clean and smooth as a copy off the rack. According to the wire services, something else happened after he found it. Reportedly, a relative handled it and wanted a cut of the money, leading to a dispute in which the back cover was torn. Doing that was the equivalent of tearing up thousand-dollar bills, many of them.
Nonetheless, Mr. Gonzales still realized he had something special here, though he did not know how special. He took the comic to a comic book dealer, and then to Comic Connect. Comic Connect is a noted online comic auction house. They recognized just how valuable it is. Even a first edition Superman with a 2 rating is valued at $110,000. They put it up for sale. Bidders recognized its value too. They saw $110,000 as way too much of a bargain for this copy. When the bidding closed on June 11, the price realized was $175,000. Mr. Gonzales could not have dreamed of even a small fraction of this amount to be made on the house. However, he is not selling it. The auction house reported that he plans to finish fixing the house, but “swears he will never sell it.” As for the money lost to the damage, he apparently doesn't mind. He told a reporter that money does not mean that much to him. He would rather work for his money.
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000