For more than 20 years, Doug Schmell, a well-known comic book dealer, has been assembling a treasury of rare classic comics. Virtually every book, according to Heritage’s Lon Allen, “is the single highest graded” example of its type, or at least “tied for high graded copy.“ When Schmell’s collection, which includes such titles as “X-Men #1,””Avengers#1,” and “Fantastic Four #4,” comes up for auction this week in Los Angeles, it’s expected to sell for more than $3m.Schmell is the owner of PedigreeComics.com. Leading the online bidding at the moment in the Heritage sale ending July 26th is his 9.8-graded “X-Men#1 Pacific Coast pedigree (Marvel, 1963), “for which the price stands at $260,000, and a 9.6-graded “Avengers#1 Pacific Coast pedigree (Marvel, 1963,” which has a current bid of $200,000. Close behind are the $180,000 bid for a 9.2-graded “Fantastic Four #1 White Mountain pedigree (Marvel, 1961), and the $180,000 offered for a 9.6-graded ”Tales of Suspense #39 Pacific Coast pedigree (Marvel, 1963).”
