Tag Archives: heritage auctions

Rare Graded Video Games Fetch High Bids in Heritage Auction

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Video game nostalgia has come a long way – once the realm of people who remembered playing Pong, there are now nearly 50 years of video game history living rent-free in our heads, and along with that comes the desire to recapture our respective glory days. Last week, Heritage Auctions closed an auction featuring a variety of vintage video games and game systems, many graded by the Video Game Authority (VGA), and several of them went for high dollar values.

The highest bid received in the entire auction was for the Nintendo Entertainment Deluxe Set, which included the iconic NES console, two controllers, a Zapper light gun, R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), and two boxed games: Gyromite and Duck Hunt. Graded at 85 NM+ by the VGA, this unopened set went for $120,000 with buyer premium.

Other notable VGA-graded items in the auction:

  • A sealed copy of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 system sold for $10,800. In addition to being a fun game with great box art, it is also the first appearance of Waluigi, partner to Wario and rival to Luigi. It received a grade of 90 NM+/MT.
  • An open (but complete) Nintendo 64 game console was graded at 85+ NM+ (Qualified) and sold for $8,400. While it didn’t outlast its competitor, Sony’s Playstation, this relatively rare system became famous for thoroughly enjoyable games like Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye.
  • Measuring approximately 2 feet squared, a bundled “Value Pak” of a Super NES console with controller, a Super NES Super Scope 6 with six unnamed games, and three extra games – Battle Clash, Yoshi’s Safari, and Metal Combat: Falcon’s Revenge – received a grade of 85+ NM+ from the VGA, and sold for $10,200.

Video Game Authority Grades Bestselling Games in a Recent Auction

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Everyone knows that video games are big, big business. But did you know that graded video games are also big business? A large auction of video games just wrapped up at Heritage Auctions, with a sizable portion of them graded by the Video Game Authority (a division of the Collectible Grading Authority). Here’s a look at some of the auction highlights.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for Nintendo 3DS – VGA 100 GEM MT Uncirculated, 2011 

It’s not often that you get a grade of 100 on anything, so when you’ve got an uncirculated copy of an iconic game like Legend of Zelda, with an iconic logo and cover, it’s going to go for top dollar. Sold for: $16,800.00

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for Nintendo 3DS - VGA 100 GEM MT Uncirculated, 2011

Golden Sun for Game Boy Advance – VGA 95 Mint Sealed, Nintendo 2001

A lesser-known game franchise, this was the first of three Golden Sun installments, only for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Perfect for proving your gamer cred. Sold for: $5,520.00

Golden Sun for Game Boy Advance - VGA 95 Mint Sealed, Nintendo 2001

Ninja Five-O for Game Boy Advance – VGA 85+ NM+ Sealed, Konami, 2003

Not one that turns up in people’s collections a lot, but how can you pass up a game about a ninja… policeman? Who rescues hostages and defeats bad guys? The name alone sells it. Sold For: $2,400.00

Ninja Five-O for Game Boy Advance - VGA 85+ NM+ Sealed, Konami, 2003

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! for Nintendo Switch – VGA 95+ Mint Sealed [Poké Ball Plus Bundle], 2018

Sure, Pokémon are popular, that’s why this game, with a big picture of Pikachu and a pack-in Poké Ball, went for big bucks. Sold For:  $2,280.00

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! for Nintendo Switch - VGA 95+ Mint Sealed [Poké Ball Plus Bundle], 2018

Resident Evil for GameCube – VGA 90+ NM+/MT Sealed, Capcom, 2002 

Even if it’s a later port on a different system, a 20-year-old copy of the original Resident Evil is a treasure worth protecting, and worth owning, even if it costs you a pretty penny. Sold for $2,040.00

Resident Evil for GameCube - VGA 90+ NM+/MT Sealed, Capcom, 2002 

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii U – VGA 90 NM+/MT Uncirculated [Controller & Adapter Bundle], 2014

Super Smash Bros. box art is always great, but it’s even better on an oversized box, which is what this game-and-controller bundle comes in. Sold For:  $960.00

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii U - VGA 90 NM+/MT Uncirculated [Controller & Adapter Bundle], 2014  

Rob Liefeld’s Ultra-Rare ‘Merc with a Mouth’ Concept Art comes to Heritage Auctions

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Deadpool – also known as “The Merc with a Mouth” – was first introduced in the pages of 1990’s New Mutants No. 98 by renowned comic-book creator, writer and artist Rob Liefeld. His appearance was nothing short of a lightning strike that ignited fans’ attention and adulation like few characters ever before. Marvel Comics once said the mail they received about Deadpool was the largest response to a character in years.

Deadpool’s impact was so profound Liefeld was asked to include him in X-Force No. 1 as a trading card and full-page interior fact file, which is why the 1991 issue sold more than 5 million copies upon publication – and occasionally still sells for $100 despite the proliferation of polybagged copies. Deadpool’s popularity was so overwhelming that his scheduled return appearance was accelerated to X-Force No. 2, which sold 1.2 million copies. Liefeld focused the entire issue on his Deadpool as well as featuring him on the cover. The rest is the stuff of legend: Deadpool arrived a few months later as an action figure in the X-Force toy series, and has remained for the last three decades one of the top-selling licensed characters of all time. And that was before the movies. 

If the million-selling comics are still coveted and beloved, imagine the desire for early Deadpool original art, which is ultra-rare and highly coveted.

Look no further than Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 17-18 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, which counts among its centerpieces two pages featuring The Birth Of Deadpool from New Mutants No. 98. Both of these extraordinary scarcities – Pages 14 and 15 from that issue – come from Liefeld’s personal art collection.

These depictions of Deadpool and Cable are the first drawings of Deadpool ever created. The only illustrations prior to this are the character sheets Liefeld created before determining his final look and getting Marvel’s approval. These pages have been stowed away in his vast collection of mini-comics and are coming to auction for the first time. 

They show the process Liefeld used to conceive and flesh out Deadpool and how his creative process has always begun, from his early work on Hawk and Dove until today. Liefeld creates a mini-version of the comic book before expanding it to 11 inches by 17 inches, where he inks the final versions. He works out the storytelling, the gestures, details and rendering that are finalized on the finished boards.

Liefeld’s work on New Mutants and X-Force, done while he was still in his 20s, established him as a wunderkind in the comic-book industry. And his Deadpool has been a media powerhouse for 30 years, featured in more than a dozen best-selling Marvel video games. His appearances in cartoons are fan favorites; and his comics, especially those penned by Liefeld, are comics chart-toppers. In 2016 the long-awaited Deadpool movie starring Ryan Reynolds launched to critical acclaim and fan adoration, breaking box office records in its debut.

The sequel, Deadpool 2, followed in 2018, adding popular Liefeld creations Cable, as portrayed by Josh Brolin, and Domino, played by Zazie Beetz. The films have become a global franchise with both films grossing a combined $1.6 billion. Deadpool 3 has been announced and set for release in 2024. The film will reunite Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine with his best frienemy Reynolds’ Deadpool.

Cover Art, Full Story From Robin’s 1988 ‘Death in the Family’ Shine Bat-Signal on Heritage’s June Comic Art Auction

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Batman #428

Even before bidding opened for Heritage Auctions’ June 16-19 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, one offering made global headlines: Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s original cover art for 1986’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Book One, the iconic cover from one of the most important titles of the past half century. Yet that historic lightning strike is just one centerpiece among many landmark works of original comic art featured in this historic event, which includes some swinging Spider-Man art from Todd McFarlane and the entirety of one of the most influential – and infamous – Batman stories ever told, “A Death in the Family.”

Not only does this auction feature Mike Mignola’s original cover art for 1988’s Batman #438, featuring a battered Robin, but here, too, you will find the entire 22-page story contained in that issue – the one during which the Joker killed Jason Todd’s Robin with an assist from DC Comics readers and a 1-900 number. The story, written by Jim Starlin with art by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo, features one of the most indelible images in Batman’s long history: The Dark Knight carrying the bloodied Boy Wonder from the wreckage.

Miller made mention of Jason Todd’s death in The Dark Knight Returns, two years before the Joker beat him up and blew him up. And though Miller (and many others at DC) loathed the publisher’s decision to put Robin’s fate to a vote – out of more than 10,000 calls, the Boy Wonder lost by a mere 72! –Starlin’s “A Death in the Family” has gone from one of the Batman Family’s most controversial tales to one of its most enduring.

Mignola’s cover art, and Aparo and DeCarlo’s iconic interiors (which feature a cameo from Superman, essentially reprising his The Dark Knight Returns role asgovernment operative), have been in a private collection since the 1990s.

This auction also includes original artwork from another 1980s Batman book that, like Dark Knight Returns and “A Death in the Family,” had profound and long-term ramifications. This event offers two pages from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 Batman: The Killing Joke, in which the Watchman writer and his artist collaborator provided the Joker with a tragic origin story defined by a single bad day (and a red hood, which later became the disguise of a resurrected Jason Todd after his murder at the hands of the Joker). The Killing Joke, of course, is best known as the book in which The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon, who eventually morphed from Batgirl to the Oracle.

Iconic Batman covers abound in this auction, among them one of the earliest ever offered at auction. That would be the cover art for 1942’s Detective Comics #59, featuring Batman and Robin as drawn by their co-creator Bob Kane and his beloved Golden Age Batman collaborator Jerry Robinson. This is the first time Heritage has had the privilege and pleasure of offering a Kane cover.

Also featured is Jim Lee‘s triple gatefold variant cover for Batman #619, which wrapped the 12-part “Hush” epic that resurrected Jason Todd and established Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle as more than mere Bat and Cat chasing each other on rooftops. This is the Batman Family version of the variant, a roster that includes Batman and Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing, Oracle and her father Commissioner James Gordon, Huntress, Superman, Harvey Dent and Hush himself.

This event also features two Caped Crusader covers by illustration legends gone too soon: Batman #246 by Dave Cockrum and Neal Adams (Frank Miller’s mentor, who died April 28) and Batman #438 by George Pérez, who died only eight days after Adams.

One of the definitive artists of the 1990s was Todd McFarlane, who swung to stardom on Spider-Man’s spaghetti webbing. This auction features one of the more coveted covers McFarlane drew during tenure with the Web-Slinger –the final one, too: 1991’s Spider-Man #16, guest-starring Rob Liefeld’s X-Force. That cover is accompanied in this auction by individual pages, offered separately, from the same issue, McFarlane’s final fling with Spidey before launching Spawn at his Image Comics.

And to really tie this auction together, several Frank Miller pages will be offered – among them a page from The Dark Knight Returns Book Four, featuring Superman off to fight Batman. Now, as then, everyone wins.

Captain America’s Debut Comic Book Sells for $3.12 Million at Heritage Auctions

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Captain America Comics No. 1

A near-mint copy of 1941’s Captain America Comics No. 1 sold for $3,120,000 at Heritage Auctions on Thursday to become one of the world’s most valuable comic books.

Not only is that far and away the highest price ever paid at auction for super soldier Steve Rogers’ debut, but the Sentinel of Liberty now joins Superman and Spider-Man as the only superheroes whose debuts have sold for more than $3 million.

This copy, which also introduced Cap’s sidekick Bucky and their Nazi nemesis Red Skull, hails from the historic San Francisco Pedigree Collection and bears a grade of Near Mint 9.4 from Certified Guaranty Company. It’s the finest copy of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s powerhouse comic book Heritage Auctions has offered in two decades.

Live bidding opened at $1,825,000, then immediately jumped to $2.2 million. When bidding finally closed on this stunning book, the auction room erupted with applause. This is the fourth-highest price ever paid for a comic book at auction.

Cap and Kirby set another auction record during the first session of Heritage’s April 7-10 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, when the splash page from August 1964’s Tales of Suspense No. 59, Captain America’s first solo Silver Age story, sold for $630,000. That is the highest price ever paid at auction for a “King” Kirby original, toppling the previous record set last year when the cover for Fantastic Four No. 86 realized $480,000.

Heritage offered the entirety of the 10-page story to kick off the April 7-10 event, the first time the whole work has ever been to auction. But the first page is both historic and dramatic, promising a tale from “Stan Lee, Author. Jack Kirby, Illustrator.” And there’s Cap crashing through the splash page that heralds, “The Marvel Age of Comics Reaches a New Peak of Glory with Captain America, The Most Enthusiastically Requested Character Revival of All Time!”

The 10 pages sold for a combined $975,600.

Cap was far from the only Marvel to make history Thursday.

CGC NM-9.2 copy of the Fantastic Four’s 1961 debut sold for $1.5 million

A CGC NM-9.2 copy of the Fantastic Four’s 1961 debut sold for $1.5 million, marking the first time Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, the Human Torch and The Thing’s introduction has ever crossed the million-dollar mark. This is also the second-highest price ever paid for a non-Golden Age comic.

The first session of this four-day event surpassed $13.1 million, due in part to the myriad auction records set during its scant two hours.

Thursday saw the very first painting from the Richard Corben Estate come to auction: the original art for the poster for the 1981 film Heavy Metal. As expected, there was heavy bidding for this historic work, which sold for $288,000 – seven times higher than Corben’s previous auction high.

Harvey Kurtzman also set a new auction record – for one of his few original MAD covers to reach the auction block. In fact, the classic cover of MAD No. 9 had never before been to auction, which helps explain why the delightful piece sold for $264,000, nearly three times Kurtzman’s previous high.

Another extraordinary rarity surfaced in this auction: Frank Miller’s cover art for Book Three of his revolutionary mini-series The Dark Knight Returns, which sold for $264,000. Featuring Miller’s new Robin – 13-year-old Carrie Kelly – crouched beneath the Bat-Signal, this is nothing short of a historic offering from the landmark title that finally and fully transformed Batman’s Caped Crusader into The Dark Knight and irrevocably altered the character, comic books, cinema and popular culture.

Bidding for Heritage Auctions’ April 7-10 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction continues here.

Action Comics #1 Rockets to Over $3 million in Auction

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Action Comics #1 "Rocket Copy"

A CGC Fine 6.0 copy of Action Comics #1 recently sold for $3.18 million through Heritage Auctions. That’s the second most expensive comic ever offered by the auction house behind a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15.

Known as the “Rocket Copy” of the comic due to the red spaceship stamped on the cover, the comic was kept in an envelope meant to preserve important documetns.

The issue is iconic as it’s the introduction to the world to Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Certified Guarantee Company knows of only 77 copies of Action Comics #1 in existence in any condition and of just two graded CGC FN 6.0.

A previous CGC GD/VG 3.0 original owner copy of Action Comics #1 sold through Heritage Auctions in 2012 for $300,000. The auction house has offered only a handful of copies of the history making issue with none ever breaking the million dollar barrier until this recent copy.

Spider-Man’s Black Costume Origin Page Sells for $3.6 Million

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Page 25 from Secret Wars #8 was a hot item at Heritage Auctions recently. The page by Mike Zeck features Spider-Man in his “black costume” and recently sold for $3,360,000. That costume would turn out to be a symbiote that would later go on and create Venom.

Bidding opened at $33,000 but quickly rose as the comic page saw a bidding war that set records.

Moments before page 25 went up for auction, page 24 sold for $288,000.

That’s $3,648,000 for two pages from the iconic comic. The original owners name wasn’t revealed but purchased the pages in the 1980s and held on to them ever since.

Heritage Auctions Teams with Comic Artists to Benefit the Ed Asner Memorial Fund

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Heritage Auctions and numerous comic artists are teaming up to raise money of the Ed Asner Memorial Fund. Bill Sienkiewicz is one of those creators who after getting involved, helped convince other artists to do the same.

Beloved for generations for roles that included gruff-but-lovable Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Santa Claus in Elf and Carl Fredericksen in Pixar’s Up, Ed Asner died Aug. 29, leaving a legacy as a giant among Hollywood stars and a champion for numerous special needs communities. Matthew Asner, the center’s president and CEO, and his wife, Navah Paskowitz-Asner, continue their tireless work of creating programs and services for those with special needs. Among the most important is raising funds to support the center, through events like Heritage Auctions’ Inktoberfest for the Ed Asner Family Center Charity Auction. Bidding for the event – Heritage’s third on behalf of The Ed Asner Family Center – opens Sept. 30 on HA.com; the event closes Oct. 28.

The event is one of the center’s primary annual fundraisers, thanks to generous contributions from some of the comic-book industry’s best and best-known artists.

The result is an extraordinary event, with roughly 140 lots of art donated by the artists who created them; the proceeds will go to support the programs and services offered at The Ed Asner Family Center. The list of artists who have contributed to the event reads like a Who’s Who of comic art, among them Sienkiewicz, Kevin Nowlan, Don Maitz, Jim Lee, Ibrahim Moustafa, Philip Tan, and Arthur Adams, to name but a few.

Without Ed’s involvement, this year’s event, of course, holds special significance to Matt and all involved with the Ed Asner Family Center.

Proceeds from the auction will go directly to the Ed Asner Memorial Fund for programs and services at The Ed Asner Family Center, “a one-stop shop for neurodivergent individuals and their families seeking wholeness in all attitudes of life.” The center “gives children and adults of all levels of ability a chance at dignity, confidence, and self-respect” through an assortment of arts and career advancement programs that are offered after school and on weekends, as well as counseling and mindfulness classes.

One-of-a-Kind My Little Pony Variant and Original Artwork Raises $8,750 for Charity

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mlp charity variantThe Heritage Auctions for the one-of-a-kind variant of IDW‘s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #12 and the original cover artwork by fan-favorite Sara Richard closed on August 9 raising a total of $8,750*, with the one-of-a-kind variant ending at $5,500 and the Richard original cover artwork ending at $3,250.

The proceeds of the auctions are earmarked to benefit Give Kids The World, a non-profit organization that provides children from around the world with life-threatening illnesses and their families a memorable and cost-free visit to Central Florida attractions.

IDW, Hasbro, and Heritage Auctions have extended a big “thank you” to everyone who participated in the auctions and helped to raise this impressive donation for Give Kids The World. A special “thanks” goes to Sara Richards for her generous donation of the original artwork, which greatly contributed to the success of this charitable effort.

*Totals does not include the Buyer’s Premium

IDW and Hasbro Auction a One of a Kind My Little Pony Comic for Charity

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unnamedMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fast became the best-selling comic in IDW‘s history and last year the title reached a monumental milestone of selling over one million copies at retail. To celebrate the occasion, IDW and Hasbro collaborated on a very special promotion. In an unprecedented move, an extremely rare variant cover by fan-favorite Sara Richard of issue #12 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was made, so rare it was limited to ONE copy total!

IDW and Hasbro are proud to announce that they are joining with Heritage Auctions, the largest collectibles auctioneer and third largest auction house in the world, to auction both the one-of-a-kind issue and the original artwork by Richard, at Heritage’s Signature Auction, this August 7th. Proceeds of the auction will benefit Give Kids The World, a non-profit organization that provides children from around the world with life-threatening illnesses and their families a memorable and cost-free visit to Central Florida attractions.

The one-of-a-kind variant issue #12 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will be on view at Heritage Auctions booth at Comic-Con International: San Diego.

unnamed(1)How to Register & Bid Online (online bidding starts approximately July 18th)
1. For the Comic: http://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/humor/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-12-cover-b-sara-richard-1-million-edition-only-copy-produced-idw-publishing-2013-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/p/7097-136001.s
For the Original Art: http://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/covers/sara-richard-my-little-pony-12-1-million-cover-b-original-art-group-idw-2014-/p/7097-136002.s
2. Click Join Now at top of page
3. Enter your email and confirm
4. Complete your membership login information
5. Bid!

Already Registered?
1. For the Comic: http://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/humor/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-12-cover-b-sara-richard-1-million-edition-only-copy-produced-idw-publishing-2013-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/p/7097-136001.s
For the Original Art: http://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/covers/sara-richard-my-little-pony-12-1-million-cover-b-original-art-group-idw-2014-/p/7097-136002.s
2. Be sure you are signed in at the top of the page
3. Click on your desired lot
4. Place bid
5. Click on MyBids often to watch your bids!