Books News

10-cent comic book auctioned for almost 500,000 dollars

Nov 19, 2010, 14:16 GMT

   San Francisco - In 1939, 13-year-old Robert Irwin from California bought a comic book for 10 cents.

   On Thursday, the rare issue of Detective Comics No 39, which introduced a new hero, Batman, was auctioned off for 492,000 dollars in Dallas, Texas to an anonymous bidder, the Modesto Bee newspaper reported.

   The comic book was the only one the 84-year-old had kept over the years. 'I must have just liked the cover,' he said.

   'It's amazing to consider that the seller of this comic book, Robert Irwin, is the same person who bought it off the stands more than seven decades ago,' Ed Jaster, senior vice president of Heritage Auctions, said in an earlier statement. 'This is the first time that's ever happened for one of these huge comic books.'

   Irwin had been offered 27,000 dollars for the book in the 1990s by a collector and later even 100,000 dollars.

   After Heritage Auctions in February sold a copy of the same comic, albeit in better condition, for 1,075,000 dollars, Irwin said he changed his mind about selling.