I’ve recently been going through some of my old Overstreet Comic Book Monthly back issues, and I thought it may be interesting to look old sales from the “High End Market Report” article and see how the books have performed over time.

The first comic book sale that caught my eye was any issue of Detective Comics #27 in GD/VG that sold for $24,750. These were the days before CGC, so it was a “raw” book, but assuming the grading was accurate this would equate to a 3.0 on the numerical scale.

So what’s the value of a Detective #27 in GD/VG or CGC 3.0 today?

Unfortunately this book is in such high demand and there are so few around, the last sale of a 3.0 copy was in 2003. It sold for about $34,000 (about a 3.6% rate of return). Go up to a 3.5 and fast forward to 2005 and you hit the $74,000 mark.

One of the problems of assessing the performance over time of specific sales is the lack of reliable grading data. CGC has given the industry a sort of a constant that we can refer to when making these assessments.

If anyone has sale data that is newer than 2003 for a GD/VG, please post it in the comments.

Here are some notable comic book sales ending March 29, 2011:

WOLVERINE #1 CGC 9.8 CAMPBELL DEADPOOL VARIANT $865.95
Incredible Hulk #181 CGC 8.5 $855.00
ACTION COMICS #150 CGC 9.2 NM- Highest Graded Palo Alto $1000.00
Adventure Comics #62 (DC, 1941). CGC FN/VF 7.0 $1,072.75
INCREDIBLE HULK 181 CGC 8.5 SIGNED BY HERB TRIMPE $800.00
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83 -1st THOR – PGX 2.0 $910.01
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 83 PGX 5.0 VGF $2,830.00

A Comic Book Secrets subscriber recently asked “do coverless comic books have any value?”

It depends on how old they are and what specific issues they are, but yes, sometimes coverless comics can be worth something. The best chance for a decent value is if they are from the Golden Age ( roughly 1930’s-1950). Outside of that they would probably have to be a key issue.

Why?

Many collectors try to reassemble a comic, especially key issues, and “make” a higher grade copy. For example, they may have a cover of Superman #1 but someone in the past removed several interior pages. The collector would be looking for a complete interior to marry with his cover, making a far more valuable comic. Because old comics and keys are typically the most valuable, they are usually the best candidates because they have good chance at commanding high prices.

To give you some examples, take a look at the following coverless comics for sale here.

If you don’t have key comics, sometimes readers will pick up a whole box of coverless comics for their own enjoyment. They usually don’t sell for much, but they are willing to take them off your hands.