One of world's most valuable Spider-Man comics fetches £30k at Tyneside auction

Spider-Man comic up for auction. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

What has been described as the world’s most valuable comic has gone up at auction on Tyneside today.The 1961 Marvel Comic Amazing Fantasy No 15, featuring the first appearance by Spider-Man, was valued at £10,000-£15,000 in the Anderson & Garland sale in Newcastle. It sold for a whopping £30,000, which is a long way off it's original sticker price of just nine old pence!It is part of a 20,000 piece lifetime collection of comic collector Ian Penman, from Sunderland, who died earlier this year.

Another marvel comic, Fantastic Four, which showcases the first appearance together in one magazine of The Thing, Mr Fantastic, Human Torch and the Invisible Girl, is rated at £5,000-£8,000.


Watch the moment the comic went under the hammer:


In 1961 Ian Penman joined the DC Comics’ Supermen of America fan club, after starting to collect comics as a child.

He also joined the Marvel Comics fan club set up in 1943 by Marvel editor Stan Lee, called the Merry Marvel Marching Society.Over the decades, Ian interviewed and worked with creatives and other trailblazers from the comic world including Stan Lee, Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore, Chris Claremont, Brian Bolland, Alan Davis, Mike Cruden, Jim Marshall, Ken Simpson, Jeff Morgan, Steve Craddock and Dez Skinn.On page one of the top-priced Amazing Fantasy comic, Stan Lee has written a dedication to Ian Penman whose family has described his collection as an “incredible comic legacy.”