geekosystem

An honest-to-goodness piece of the real life Moon hits the auction block at Heritage Auctions this week, and it's one of the first in some time to be opened to a private auction. Bidding on the moon meteorite, Dar Al Gani 1058, which fell to Earth and was discovered in Libya, starts at $170,000, but the final price is expected to be as high as $380,000. The rock, a nearly four pound chunk of breccia from the far side of the moon split in two pieces, would make a great addition to any number of natural history museums across the planet, where it would find a home on display for people to come and marvel at it everyday, perhaps never knowing when or if they would ever see a thing like it again. Or, somebody with too much money on their hands and a dearth of class and decency could buy it and put it in mothballs.

At the age of thirteen, Robert Irwin bought Detective Comics #27 from a newstand for ten cents. And though he and his brother collected and discarded hundreds of comics, that one issue was the only one he kept. Why?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I must have just liked the cover.”

Mr. Irwin rediscovered his copy six years ago, but did not immediately sell it, even though he was offered $100,000. When another copy of the comic sold for more than $1 million earlier this year, he decided to make his move. That waiting has paid off: his copy has been valued at $400,000, and bids on the Heritage auction have already reached that marker, with bidding still open until Thursday. Which gives him a percentage return on his investment that's... nine digits long.

Got five figures to throw around on a piece of real comics history? Then you can go put in your bid at the Heritage Auction Galleries auction of the original pencil and inks of the first page of Watchmen, scripted by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. The bidding currently stands at $6,500, but don't expect it to stay there for long. In the words of Heritage Auctions themselves:

Watchmen pages do not come along often, in fact Heritage has never offered one before! We know of many people who have read Watchmen who have never read any other comic book, and given that mass appeal, we expect very strong demand for this lot.

Just be careful when reading the rest of their description. It's got a serious spoiler in it. ಠ_ಠ