'Pawn Stars’ boss Rick Harrison pays top dollar for Marvel comic book – the one that introduced Thor
Comic book collections used to be a passion of kids, but with time, they've become valuable assets as vintage editions are fetching significant prices. Rick Harrison has come across a lot of rare finds on "Pawn Stars," but the “Journey Into Mystery” comic book is special, especially for Marvel fans. Harrison came across the comic book that first introduced the character called the "Mighty Thor". After some education, Harrison realized the value of the item and was ready to shell out $40,000 for it.
In the episode, the guest shared that she wanted to pawn her prized possession to help fund her traveling expedition. The guest shared that the book written by the great Stan Lee came out in 1962 and was one of the most sought-after items in the comic world. Even Harrison acknowledged the significance of the item from the get-go. "Stan Lee is one of those guys you who is probably the most famous comic book guy there ever was or ever will be," Harrison said. When asked about how she got the book, the guest revealed that it was given to her by her brother, who drew for Marvel Comics years ago. "I got it graded and it's got a great rating of about 8.5," she said. Harrison also acknowledged that the comic books that introduce great characters like Thor are always worth a lot of money, and when he asked the owner how much she was looking for, she asked for a whopping $100,000.
Hearing the ask, Harrison called in his expert, Steve, the owner of Torpedo Comics, to come take a look at the item. The expert acknowledged the significance of the book after looking at the creators and the CGC grading. "Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are very famous as they are the co-creators of the entire Marvel Universe," he told Harrison. He then shared that Thor was the fifth character in the universe, introduced right after Spider-Man in the breakout year of 1962. After hearing the ask, Steve told Harrison that the book was graded an 8.5 and it was labelled 'White Pages,' which meant that the book was in pristine condition as the pages hadn't turned brown or off-white. Coming to the valuation, Steve estimated that the book would retail for about $60,000 at his own store.
After Steve left the shop, Harrison got straight to the negotiations. While the expert valued it at $60,000, Harrison made an offer of $30,000. "That's cash. You don't have to retail it, you don't have to put it in an auction or anything like that. You don't have to wait a year to get paid," he reasoned. However, the owner made a counteroffer of $50,000 for the item.
Harrison told her that he would have to pay commissions and everything, so the highest he could go was $40,000. The owner accepted and closed one of the most expensive comic book deals on the show.
"I was asking a hundred thousand but forty thousand dollars is still a good amount of money. So, I'm going to help my brother out a little bit with some bills, and then with the rest of the money I'm just going to go travel," the guest said in the end.
