Rare Superman comics lost for 40 years before being bought for £20 at car boot but then left forgotten in attic sell for £63,000

Rare Superman comics bought for just £20 at a car boot before being left forgotten in an attic have sold for £63,000.

It is almost double the estimated sale price.

Forty eight identical copies of them were snapped up at the second-hand sale a decade ago following a house clearance.

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They had been missing for 40 years.

Known as This Island Bradman – they are regarded as the rarest of the Superman comics ever made.

It has been dubbed the Holy Grail of collections.

The mystery owner put them in his loft and forgot about them.

During the Covid-19 pandemic he finally had a look through them and realised their worth.

Forty seven were sold individually at an auction with the best condition ones tipped to sell for up to £3,000 each.

Others were set to go for as little as £50 to £100 but together about £35,000.

But they collectively fetched £63,440 at the Ewbank’s auction, in Woking, Surrey yesterday (4 Nov), as reported on What’s The Jam.

The most expensive went for £2,600 but all but three went for four-figure sums.

A Ewbank’s spokesperson said: “Missing for nearly 40 years, the box of comics changed hands for just £20 at a car boot sale around a decade ago.

“With the owner storing them in his loft.

“He only discovered what he had during Covid when he had enough time on his hands to look into them.

“What he discovered was a run of 48 identical Superman comics that formed the surviving run of a unique private commission.

“The only known example in DC Comics’ 89-year history.”

They added: “It emerged that in the late 1980s building works at the home of wealthy businessman Godfrey Bradman exposed his son’s extensive action comic collection to asbestos, resulting in its removal and destruction.

“To make amends, the businessman commissioned the special edition as a gift for his son’s bar mitzvah in 1988, with a view to handing out copies to the guests.

“Although it was a one-off commission designed to feature the businessman’s son, Daniel Bradman, and his friend Andrew Hunt, alongside Superman, DC Comics decided to build the storyline into its existing Superman adventure.

“It is thought around 200 copies were printed, with over half being handed out to guests.

“Known as the This Island Bradman Superman comic book, it featured an eight-page story created by David Levin with artwork by Curt Swan and Angelo Torres.”

They continued: “At the end of the party, the businessman is said to have told the clean-up crew to get rid of the remaining comics.

“But one of them decided to preserve them and they ended up at his home but were then forgotten.

Tom Francis-Duma, Ewbank’s Comics specialist, said: “Die-hard Superman fans have been chasing the discarded stash of 48 comics for the best part of four decades and now we have found them.

“Many are in near-mint condition.

“This is a Holy Grail moment for die-hard Superman completists to fill that elusive gap in their collections and represents the last opportunity to get hold of a copy of this unique commission.

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