Every DC Comic Produced Between 1934 to 2014 Now up for Sale at Sotheby's
Every comic book store in town might be closed right now, but that doesn't mean you can't get your hands on the rarest and most extreme adventures of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and more. Sotheby's is currently hosting a private sale the complete run of DC comics produced between the years of 1934 and 2014.
Pegged as the DC Complete: Ian Levine Collection, this collection contains over 40,000 different comics, starting with DC's debut etchings in 1934 and continuing all the way up until 2014. Ian Levine, a DJ and one of the originators of Hi-NRG music, was an avid collector of DC comics, starting his collection in the '60s and filling in each and every issue in to form the lot now available at Sotheby's. As the collection's description says, "everyone and everything is here." Highlights of the Levine collection include complete runs of Action Comics, Detective Comics, Superman, and Batman. But don't worry, every other moment in DC history—from the introduction of characters like Aquaman and Plastic Man to the debut of Justice League of America and Teen Titans—is accounted for. Not to mention every villain—Lex Luthor, the Joker, Two Face, the Penguin, General Zod, the Riddler, and more—is featured too.
No matter how rare or exclusive an issue ever was over the past eighty years, it will be included in this lot. "The Ian Levine Collection is the holy grail for comics collectors," said Richard Austin, Head of Sotheby’s Books & Manuscripts department, in a statement. "Amassed over decades of hunting, Levine’s collection embodies the passion and fandom that has defined comics culture for generations." He notes that these print issues birthed the mega popular superhero films that continue to break box office records today.
Unfortunately, you can't purchase single issues as this is a private sale, so it's either all 40,000+ comic books or nothing. To give you an estimate of how much this lot will go for, know that the auction record for a comic was reached in 2014 when Action Comics #1 sold for $3.2 million. In 2010, a single issue of Detective Comics #27 reached $1.075 million in bidding. As both of these titles are included in the Ian Levine Collection, it's safe to say that whoever purchases this collection has got a lot in the bank. You can check out the catalogue of the collection here and inquire about purchasing here.
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