Black Cat Mystery No. 50 Cover Sold for $840,000

Lee Elias’ original art for Black Cat Mystery No. 50 has sold for $840,000 after a prolonged bidding war at Heritage Auctions' June Comics & Comic Art auction.

Elias’ cover was among the auction’s more than 270 lots from the collection of collector, historian and author Roger Hill. It has now become one of the world’s most valuable comic book covers, tied with Wally Wood’s cover of 1952’s Shock SuspenStories No. 6 as the most expensive horror comic book cover sold at auction. Hill’s collection alone went for $4,334,640.

“The material from our friend Roger Hill’s collection was truly the best of the best so we were confident the market would respond accordingly,” said Todd Hignite, an Executive Vice President at Heritage. “And there are scores more highlights from the famed collection to come.”

Other highlights included:

• Johnny Craig’s cover of The Haunt of Fear No. 15 from June 1950 featuring his toothless Old Witch went for $264,000
• Graham Ingels August 1952 cover for The Haunt of Fear No. 14 sold for $204,000
• Wally Wood's original art for the 1953 Planet Stories story The Un-Reconstructed Woman realized $57,600, making it the most valuable pulp magazine interior illustration sold at auction
• Frank Miller’s 1980s Daredevil No. 165 cover sold for $324,000 
• a page by John Romita Sr. and Mike Esposito for The Amazing Spider-Man No. 50, which introduced Wilson Fisk, sold for $216,000
• Whiz Comics’ premiere issue, featuring the debut of Captain Marvel, sold for $288,000
• a copy of 1939’s Marvel Comics No. 1 went for $228,000