A September 26 sale held by Excalibur Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) of Kings Langley included a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the 1962 issue in which the New York orphan Peter Parker first made his initial, if rather short-lived transition into a comic legend.
Showing no obvious signs of restoration, it was sold to a collector at £16,500 – just a couple of thousand more than a copy offered in the Hertfordshire salerooms a couple of years ago.
The cover artwork, bearing a UK price of 9d, was designed by Stephen J Ditko, a comic artist and writer who, along with writer and editor Stan Lee, founded Marvel Comics.
Yorkshire high prices
Sold at Hartleys, the £15,000 comic that saw the first appearance of Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Thing and the Human Torch.
Sold at £13,500 in an October 3 sale held by Hartleys (21% buyer’s premium) of Ilkley was a 9d copy of the very first comic that focussed wholly on Amazing Spider-Man, which appeared in 1963.
Also part of that Yorkshire sale was a group of early issues of Marvel’s Fantastic Four comics, among them the very first issue of November 1961 that brought a bid of £15,000. Once again this was 9d UK issue.
