With the economy still down and out, it’s kind of difficult to imagine who’s got the cash to pay six figures for the camera that shot the first Star Wars movie.
The same goes for the six figures shelled out for an original Bela Lugosi Dracula poster, or close to a million for the last existing poster for the sci-fi classic Metropolis. Clearly, people are paying big bucks for movie memorabilia, even in this day and age.
Anything related to Star Wars and superheroes is especially sure to bring in big money, as two recent auctions proved.
According to The Wrap, the Captain America costume from last summer’s Marvel blockbuster just fetched $228,000 at auction.
As it turns out, it wasn’t just the Captain America costume, but a number of memorabilia pieces went for a $1.1 million total at the Chicago Entertainment and Comic Expo.
The Captain America costume was only expected to fetch $20-30,000, and there was also a suit from Iron Man, which made $132,000. Buying a superhero costume is one thing, I can certainly see that going for big money, but the insane haul from another auction came thanks to Superman.
As we all know, the first issue of Superman can set you up for life if you have a pristine copy, good luck finding one of course, but now a check written for Joe Siegel and Jerry Schuster went for $160,000 through comicconnect.com, who were conducting an online auction.
How much was the check for? $130. Well, The Hollywood Reporter tells us that this is one of the most important pieces of memorabilia in comic history. Actually Siegel and Schuster were paid $412 on March 1, 1938, and $130 was notarized for the rights to Superman.
The check was uncovered in 1973, and as the Reporter also tells us, it’s been the subject of a huge rights battle ever since, because it’s unclear how much of the rights DC actually purchased with that check. The Reporter also speculates this may be the most anyone’s paid for a check with such historical significance.
