First appearance appearance issues to remain. Furthermore, even fewer of those remaining copies will be in the pristine condition prized by collectors. What few remain can be worth thousands of dollars to interested collectors. For example, in 2004, a copy of "Flash Comics" #1 (January 1940), the first appearance of The Flash, was auctioned for $42,000 and a copy of "Captain America Comics" #1 (March 1941), the first appearance of Captain America sold for $64,400. In 2010, another copy of "Flash Comics" #1 sold privately for $450,000. The first appearance of Superman, "Action Comics" #1 (June 1938), has been regarded as the
Action Comics 1 copy for US$1.5 million, making it the most expensive and most valuable comic book of all time. The copy sold is the third highest-graded copy from the CGC, which stands at 8.5 VF+ grade. As of 2011, there were six known Comic Guaranty LLC (CGC)-graded copies with a grade above VG (CGC 4.0), with only one issue having the grade of VF/NM (CGC 9.0) at that time. EC and "Mad" publisher William Gaines, whose father was also a comic book publisher and had business dealings with DC Comics at the time "Action Comics" #1 was published, claimed in a "Comics