Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER: Well, I feel like I have the, uh, dynamic duo... (laughs) ...of brothers, collectors, so lay it on me.

What's the story?

GUEST: Well, we started doing this about, um, gosh, about 45 years ago.

It started out very simply.

He was actually in the Air Force, and one year, he came up for Christmas, and I was a young teenager, and he bought me a box of comics.

Well, then the next year, he bought a second box.

And we put them together, and we thought, well, let's see if we can start filling in some of these numbers that we're missing.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: And then from there, it just went... APPRAISER: Grew and grew.

GUEST: ...crazy.

APPRAISER: Do you remember what you paid?

GUEST: It's probably $100 or less for every single one of them on the table.

APPRAISER: I'm just curious, out of the whole selection we have here today, did you guys have a favorite or particular book that you thought was your best one?

GUEST: Uh, just from quality and cleanness, probably the Fantastic Four #1.

APPRAISER: November, 1961, Fantastic Four is the birth of the Silver Age of Marvel comics.

Everything shown is between 1961 and 1966, the number one grail of the Silver Age of comics.

Amazing Fantasy 15, 1962.

First true appearance of Spider-Man.

Early Silver Age comics are known for Marvel chipping.

When you see this loss along the outer edge here...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...that is a condition that pre-'65 Marvel comics are prone to.

And truthfully, right now, I will say it's your best book on the board.

GUEST: Wow.

Really.

Even with the condition.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

Condition is terrible.

(laughing) (chuckling): It's-it's bad, okay?

I mean, numerically speaking, it's gonna be a 1.0, but as it sits, prior to grading, I would say this comic alone is gonna be in that $10,000 to $15,000 range.

GUEST: Ah, yeah.

Whoa.

APPRAISER: Incredible Hulk #1.

I hate to say, it's roached.

You know, it's...

GUEST: Yup.

APPRAISER: (chuckling): It's destroyed.

It's been loved, it's been abused.

But even as a 1.0, that's gonna be a $4,000 to $6,000 comic...

GUEST: Hm.

APPRAISER: ...any day of the week.

GUEST: Wow, wow.

APPRAISER: That X-Men #1 there, it is nicer shape than the Amazing Fantasy #15 and the Hulk #1.

That's gonna come in right around $7,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

I-I didn't expect that.

APPRAISER: I threw you a little curveball-- I wanted to go down before I went back up again, okay?

(chuckling) We haven't even gone across the bottom.

First "Ant-Man," first "Doctor Strange," first "Sgt.

Fury," first "Thor," first "Avengers," Spider-Man #50,-- first Kingpin, origin story retold, and Spider-Man #14, first appearance of the Green Goblin.

But now, all the buildup, I got to get to this FF #1, okay?

When I saw this on the top of your stack, and I saw the condition of it, my eyes popped out of my head.

'Cause I said, "Wow."

GUEST: I think I noticed that.

APPRAISER: Yeah, no, I-I almost had a heart attack when you whipped that out.

It's not every day you see...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...a Fantastic Four #1 in that type of shape.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: It's almost like one in a million in a high-grade condition.

It looks great.

But when you get up close with it, she's had a lot of work.

We're talking moderate even to extensive restoration on this book.

GUEST: Okay.

Oh.

APPRAISER: Here, along the staple, we have tear seals with color touch.

So these were originally tears coming off the staple from reading...

GUEST: Ah.

APPRAISER: ...that somebody glued and then put in the color touch afterwards to blend the condition.

Down here, you have the tiniest bit of paper that was added.

Now we're gonna look at the back on it for you, all right?

All this paper here was added, color touch.

Here: one, two, three, four, five, six, if not more, tears that were glued and sealed.

GUEST: You can see that.

APPRAISER: And your whole spine was reinforced with glue.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: Paper added, and paint added along the spine.

GUEST: Mmm.

APPRAISER: So, numerically speaking, we would say it would grade a 7.0 to a 7.5.

But it's a 7.0, 7.5 with extensive restoration.

GUEST: Less that, yeah.

APPRAISER: So this comic, in the shape today at auction, is $7,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: If it was in this shape original, it would be a $40,000 to $50,000 comic.

GUEST: Wow.

Yeah.

APPRAISER: And now here's the real curveball.

This book was worth more money unrestored today, looking beat-up and natural...

GUEST: Really!

APPRAISER: ...compared to being restored.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Yes.

It'd be a $8,000 to $12,000 comic, where it looking pretty and restored, it's the $7,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So as a package today, if all of these were to be professionally graded, conservatively for the group, we'd be looking at $60,000 to $90,000 at auction.

GUEST: Wow.

Okay.

Nice.

That's still good.

That's still good.

Yeah, we'll take it.

(laughs) That's good.

We'll take it.

APPRAISER: Thank you for bringing it in today, guys.

Thank you very much.

GUEST: Thank you very much, Travis.

Enjoyed it.

Thank you.

(chuckling)