Once more the Brenda Butler Archive produces record-breaking prices. Here is the fourth Beano Book from 1943 which succeeded at £5,600, the highest price at auction for a non-number 1 annual.

1943 was also a very good year for the Dandy Monster Comic, also from Brenda’s collection, with £4250 – a Dandy Monster price.

Bumped lower corners did not deter the 1941 Dandy Monster Comic from a very strong winning bid of £3250.

The Beano comic No 2 is a rare item with only 8 copies known to exist. Even in its well-worn condition it doubled its lower estimate to £1220.

This second Christmas issue Beano No 75 reached its reserve of £450 but issues 13 and 26 did not reach their reserves at £550 each.

Early Dandy comics just reached their reserve prices with No 6 at £330 and No 9 at £320

A freshly refurbished bound volume of Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday (1891) did well at £310

Judy’s High Jinks 1872 book had 100 pages of Ally Sloper’s illustrated adventures and £340 cemented his continuing popularity.

The 1887 publication of 37 issues of Ned Kelly’s infamous exploits garnered £360 which seemed like a very good price for the buyer of these rare editions.

A Broons original artwork page signed by Dudley Watkins had Pa singin’ he belongs to Dear Auld Glasgow Toon but £680 took it back to a collector from Edinburgh.

A few worn spines did not stop a consecutive run of 19 Marvel Family comics reaching £125

Most of the 23 issues of Super-Detective Library had Popular Book Centre cover stamps and biro prices but £8 each was finally paid for them.

Tiger No 1 with its free gift Space Gun and 5 out of six Flying Saucer projectiles shot to £940 reflecting the rarity of this highly contested lot.

Oz magazine 6 and 7 with Bob Dylan cover and Rolling Stone drug bust story got high at £175

Mike Noble’s Timeslip artwork board from 1971’s Look-in magazine was sold for a huge £720

 

Charley’s War artwork does not come onto the market very often and Pat Mills stories of WW1’s Charley and Blue, brilliantly illustrated by Joe Colquhoun, have legions of admirers. From a conservative estimate of £250-300 this action piece rocketed to £1320

3 more consecutive Charley’s War pages grouped here were accompanied by their Battle-Action comic front cover layout and they soared to a triple estimate £2450

Our US section heralded a scarce run of early 50s Ghost Rider comics with No 1, illustrated here, riding into the sunset with £125

Lower grade Showcases 10 and 15 commanded £130

A good run of cents copies Amazing Spider-Man brought £180

A cover store stamp did not stop the Hulk at £170 or the iconic cover of Silver Surfer 4 for the same money.

X-Men 11-17 all cent issues, all sent for £195

X-Men Giant-Size 1 mutated to £300 

Showcase 30-32 highlighted the origin of Aquaman and £155 also reflected a premium anticipated by the upcoming movie.

Here is a mid-grade Secret Agent 1 sold at a bargain-basement £16.

Anyone who remembers the 60s will know that Gold Key’s US Secret Agent comic was in fact the adventures of Danger Man, the hugely successful black and white TV series starring John Drake as the eponymous hero, coolly played by Patrick McGoohan. Unlike James Bond, Drake never carried a gun but his exploits were based on the Cold War spy stories of the time brought to life in the pages of brilliant espionage novels by John LeCarre, Graeme Greene, Frederick Forsyth and Ian Fleming.

 

These stellar literary back stories will not have been lost on the buyer of Secret Agent No 1 whose small £16 investment reflects his burgeoning interest in all aspects of the genre. For the purposes of anonymity we shall refer to him as ‘No 6.

 

I may have mentioned a couple of Reports ago that our daughter, Emma, is getting married in August and preparations are now almost complete to celebrate that important day. All venues have been inspected, all suits, waistcoats and dresses fitted and fussed over, all flowers arranged and 70 or so invitations now gather dust on the mantelpieces of guests whose only rhetorical question seems to be ‘Surely fifty quid’s plenty for them?’

 

From our recent experience, two things seem to happen when you mention the word ‘wedding’ to any supplier - the date proposed has been ‘booked out for months’ and the price has entered the stratosphere. Can we book a nice room for 70 people to have some dinner - £3000, can we book a wedding venue for 70 people - £7000. And that’s before you send back the prawn cocktail.

 

Anyway, I digress, we’re all set for the big day - I’ve been warned that my speech can’t take longer than two hours - I mustn’t embarrass everyone with my dad-dancing and I mustn’t ask anyone I don’t know if they’ve been invited.

 

Oh, and Emma’s marrying her secret agent, No 6.