A rare first edition copy of a Superman comic, forgotten for many years in an attic, sold for more than $9 million at a Texas auction house, making it reportedly the most expensive comic ever sold.
The comic was discovered by three brothers clearing out their deceased mother’s home in San Francisco last year.
Hidden in a cardboard box, the men found a number of rare comics from the 1930s.
The Superman comic, found in excellent condition with a nine out of ten rating by the company CGC, was released in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc. and is one of only a handful that still exist.
While the mother told her sons she had hidden the comics away, the brothers never saw the rare edition until they were cleaning out her house for sale, Lon Allen, vice-president of comics at Heritage Auctions, told international media.
The copy of Batman #1 also sold for $60,000.
Super discovery!
After finding the comics, the brothers reached out to the Texas auction house and Allen immediately flew to appraise their discovery.
"It was just in an attic, sitting in a box — could have easily been thrown away, could've easily been destroyed in a thousand different ways," Allen said. "A lot of people got excited, because it's just every factor in collecting that you could possibly want, all rolled into one."
Allen predicted that there are fewer than 500 copies of the Superman comic still in existence.
"This isn't simply a story about old paper and ink," one brother said in a statement released by the auction house. “This was never just about a collectible. This is a testament to memory, family and the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us."