WAH-HOO! and greetings from Pedigree Comics. This market report reflects most of the activity we have had in November, but specifically, it addresses the incredible and unprecedented sales we had from our Sgt. Fury run which was listed in our “new arrivals” section on the night of November 15th. I first got the idea of presenting the almost 65 issue run of this popular Marvel war title back in August, when I sold the 9.4 CGC graded Curator copy of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos No.1 for a whopping $17,500.00. It made me realize that even the most obscure, underappreciated, undervalued and overlooked titles from the Marvel Age are in demand, especially keys in high grade. I then put together the fantastic run that was listed on the Pedigree Comics website through purchases, trades, consignments and picking issues out of my own collection. When the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, I had every Sgt. Fury from #1 through #49 in CGC high grade, plus 51-61 and some scattered issues in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Most of the issues were pedigree copies, with the Massachusetts and Boston Collections the most represented, plus a few each from the Winnipeg, Western Penn. and Golden State pedigrees.

 

The average grade of the Sgt. Fury’s was 9.6 and most of the individual issues had white pages. In addition, almost every single copy was the top certified or tied as the top certified one, and those that weren’t were the 2nd highest ranked. Amazingly, only 6 out of the more than 65 listed were less than 9.4, and out of these, 4 were 9.2 and 2 were graded 9.0.  Sure, I knew I had put together a great run but was not prepared for the unbelievable response it wound up receiving.  Ironically, a predominantly Sgt. Fury only collector had bought some of the doubles and lesser graded copies from my site approximately one week prior to the listing of the run, prompting me to think he had spent all his money on the lower graded stuff and would be unable to afford the higher priced and certified issues being listed on the 15th. I figured that with these prior sales that Sgt. Fury’s had already peeked on my site and I would have these high grade copies listed for a while. Boy, was I wrong! Not only did this previous buyer start bidding and buying as soon as the books came up on my site, but two other buyers entered into the fray, purchasing almost every book I had uploaded. By 2:00 a.m on the morning of the 17th, over 50 issues had sold and most of these went to these three individual buyers. I was stunned more so than surprised, because the books were priced aggressively at multiples of guide (the #1 9.2 went for $6,500, just under 3 x top of guide) and I wasn’t selling Spidey’s or Journey’s. These were Sgt. Furys, for God’s sakes!! 

 

Overall, the sale of the run is very consistent with a pattern I have seen whenever I have had a run of high grade issues from a specific Silver Age Marvel title. It started with the group of killer Strange Tales from the Mass. Collection I sold in September (No. 136 through 168), continued with the amazingly high grade and pedigree dominated Tales To Astonish run I sold just last month (October) and confirmed it when the Sgt. Fury’s sold like hot cakes. Ultra high grade Marvels (9.4 or better) from pedigree collections simply SELL!! It doesn’t matter if it’s a bunch of Millie the Models, Amazing Spider-Mans, Fantastic Fours or Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders. There’s something about owning a run of a specific title from a specific provenance and there’s always some high grade collector or investor out there, even when the comics are priced at multiples of guide, who wants to own that run. Naturally, if you price 9.4’s at 15 x guide they may sit for a few years, but even higher than normal multiples, when part of a killer single owner run, will sell quicker than you might think as indicated in the sales data below:

 

Sgt. Fury Sales
 1   9.2  $6,500
 2   9.6    4,500  (Winnipeg)
 3   9.2       750
 4   9.4    1,700  (Western Penn)
 5   9.6    2,000
 5   9.2       550
 6   9.0       275
 7   9.4       900  (Western Penn)
 8   9.4       850  (Western Penn)
 9   9.6    1,260  (Boston)
 9   9.0       225  (Mass. Copy)
10  9.2       400
11  9.6       760  (Northland)
12  9.6       650  (Western Penn)
12  9.6       450
13  9.6    4,000  (Northland)
14  9.4       450  (Cleveland)
15  9.4       450  (Mass. Copy)
16  9.6       675
17  9.4       350  (Mass. Copy)
18  9.4       325  (Mass. Copy)
19  9.6       675
20  9.4       475  (Mass. Copy)
20  9.2       175  (Boston)
21  9.4       300  (Mass. Copy)
22  9.6       325  (Mass. Copy)
23  9.6       400  (Boston)
23  9.4       275  (Mass. Copy)
24  9.6       500  (Boston)
25  9.6       425
25  9.4       235  (Boston)
26  9.2       160  (Boston)
27  9.4       350  (Mass. Copy)
29  9.4       175  (Mass. Copy)
30  9.6       450  (Mass. Copy)
31  9.4       175  (Boston)
32  9.4       175  (Boston)
33  9.6       225  (Boston)
34  9.6       250  (Boston)
35  9.6       250  (Boston)
35  9.4       160  (Mass. Copy)
35  9.4       160  (Winnipeg)
36  9.8       350  (Golden State)
36  9.4       135  (Winnipeg)
37  9.4       160  (Mass. Copy)
38  9.6       275  (Boston)
39  9.6       250  (Boston)
40  9.6       250  (Mass. Copy)
41  9.4       175  (Mass. Copy)
42  9.6       250  (Mass. Copy)
42  9.4       160  (Boston)
43  9.6       215  (Boston)
43  9.4       160  (Mass. Copy)
44  9.2         90  (Boston)
45  9.0         65  (Boston)
46  9.4       180  (Mass. Copy)
47  9.4       180  (Mass. Copy)
48  9.4       160  (Mass. Copy)
49  9.6       250  (Mass. Copy)
51  9.6       160  (Mass. Copy)
52  9.6       225  (Mass. Copy)
52  9.6       215
53  9.6       160  (Mass. Copy)
54  9.4       150  (Mass. Copy)
55  9.6       200  (Mass. Copy)
55  9.6       160
56  9.6       210  (Mass. Copy)
56  9.4       110
57  9.2         60  (Mass. Copy)
58  9.4       110
59  9.6       225  (Mass. Copy)
60  9.4       110  (Mass. Copy)
61  9.4       100  (Mass. Copy)
62  9.6       135
63  9.8       250  (Golden State)
64  9.8       245  (Golden State)
65  9.4        90
71  9.6       160
72  9.6       115
78  9.4         90
80  9.6       160  (Golden State)
80  9.6       125
86  9.6       115
88  9.6       115
90  9.6       135
92  9.6       135
97  9.6       135
Annual  1  9.4    1,000  (Curator)
Annual  3  9.2         90   (Oakland)
Annual  4  9.4        150  (Mass. Copy)
Annual  5  9.6        115  (Mass. Copy)
Annual  6  9.0          40  (Mass. Copy)

 

Silver Age Sales
Amazing Spider-Man  21  9.4  2,650
Amazing Spider-Man  72  9.4     425
Avengers  5  9.2  1,000
Avengers  24  9.6   565  (Pacific Coast)
Avengers  26  9.6   675  (Pacific Coast)
Daredevil  26  9.4  400  (Pacific Coast)
Daredevil  62  9.6  165
Fantastic Four  26  9.4  2,599
Fantastic Four  60  9.4     475
Fantastic Four  69  9.6     950
Fantasy Masterpieces  1  9.6  550  (Boston)
Fantasy Masterpieces  4  9.8  400  (Boston)
Fantasy Masterpieces  5  9.8  400  (Boston)
Fantasy Masterpieces  5  9.6  250  (Boston) 
Fantasy Masterpieces  8  9.8  400  (Boston)
Fantasy Masterpieces  8  9.6  250  (Boston)
Groovy  1  9.6  720  (Oakland0
Groovy  2  9.6  365  (Oakland)
Groovy  3  9.6  365  (Oakland)
Journey Into Mystery  86  9.4  6,500  (White Mountain)
Journey Into Mystery  86  8.5     650
Journey Into Mystery  87  9.2  1,550
Journey Into Mystery  110  9.2   595 
Journey Into Mystery  116  9.2   260
Marvel Super-Heroes  1  9.4  525  (Pacific Coast)
Nick Fury  3  9.6  375
Nick Fury  4  9.6  (Pacific Coast)
Not Brand Echh  3  9.6  265  (Winnipeg)
Silver Surfer  15  9.4  355
Strange Tales  150  9.4  200
Strange Tales  156  9.4  175  (Mile High 2)
Tales To Astonish  38  9.4  1,850
Tales To Astonish  57  9.4  1,600  (Green River)
Tales To Astonish  58  9.2  350  (White Mountain)
Tales To Astonish  70  9.4  570  (Pacific Coast)
Tales To Astonish  84  9.6  400  (Pacific Coast)
Tales To Astonish  92  9.6  430  (Pacific Coast)
Thor  137  9.4  275  (Northland)
Thor  156  9.4  140  (Mile High 2)
Where Monsters Dwell

 

Bronze Age Sales
Avengers  83  9.4  275  (Pacific Coast)
Avengers  87  9.4  175
Daredevil  99  9.8  350
Daredevil  108  9.6  175
Daredevil  129  9.6  100
Daredevil  141  9.6  175
Daredevil  152  9.6  145
Daredevil  154  9.6  125
Daredevil  156  9.6  125
Daredevil  159  9.6  175
Daredevil  176  9.6   40
Daredevil  180  9.8  75
Daredevil  183  9.8
Incredible Hulk  123  9.6  225
Incredible Hulk  126  9.6  300
Iron Fist  1  9.4  275  (Winnipeg)
Iron Man Annual  1  9.6  240  (Oakland)
Sub-Mariner  8  9.2  175  (Oakland)
Sub-Mariner  14  9.4  225  (Winnipeg)
Sub-Mariner Annual  1  9.6  225
Where Creatures Roam  7  9.9  650  (Bowling Green)
Where Monsters Dwell  1  9.4  185  (Oakland)
Where Monsters Dwell  11  9.2  90  (Oakland)
Where Monsters Dwell  16  9.2  90  (Oakland)
X-Men  101  9.8  $4,750

 

Magazine Sales
Creepy  38  9.6  260  (Mass. Copy)
Eerie  10  9.4  185  (Mass. Copy)
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu  16  9.4  64  (Mass. Copy)
Famous Monsters of Filmland  50  9.6  175
Famous Monsters of Filmland  53  9.4 
Savage Tales  5  9.4  125  (Mass. Copy)
Savage Tales  6  9.4  100  (Mass. Copy)