A CGC 7.0 Conserved copy of Action Comics #1 sold for $1.4 million at Heritage Auctions on May 10. That's the first Conserved-label comic to ever clear seven figures. The previous record for a Conserved copy was $528,000 in June 2021. This sale more than doubled it.
For thousands of restored and conserved Golden Age books in circulation, the comp just changed.
The Headline Number
Heritage's Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction ran May 7-10, 2026. The total came to $22.38 million. Comics accounted for $10.23 million. Original art took $12.15 million.
The Action Comics #1 sat in the comics column. CGC 7.0 with a Conserved label, meaning the book has had professional conservation work. Tear seals. Archival reinforcement. Stabilization rather than cosmetic improvement. Whatever was done is noted on the slab.
Conserved copies have always traded at a steep discount to unrestored books at the same grade. Until now, the high-water mark for any Conserved Action #1 was $528,000 for a CGC 5.5 in June 2021. The new mark is $1.4 million for a 7.0. That's a 165% jump on the Conserved record.
What "Conserved" Means
CGC uses different labels to flag work done on a book. Restored gets a purple label and covers cosmetic work like color touch and piece replacement. Conserved gets a blue and silver label and covers preservation work meant to stabilize the book without altering its appearance. Universal, the standard unrestored label, is plain blue.
The market has historically penalized any non-Universal label hard. A Conserved 7.0 trading at a fraction of an unrestored 7.0 has been the rule, not the exception.
That rule just got tested.
The Unrestored Comp
For context: a CGC 9.0 unrestored Action Comics #1, the copy stolen from Nicolas Cage's house in 2000, sold privately for $15 million in January 2026. A CGC 8.5 unrestored copy hit $6 million at public auction in April 2024.
A 7.0 Conserved at $1.4 million still trades at a deep discount to those numbers. The ceiling didn't get touched. The floor did.
That's the more important number for the market. There are roughly 86 copies of Action Comics #1 known across all grades on the CGC census. A meaningful chunk of them carry restoration or conservation labels. Every one of those just got new comps.
The Rest of the Sale
Detective Comics #27 in CGC 6.5 cleared $1.52 million. Same book that introduced Batman in 1939. Same auction house that sold a CGC 7.0 copy for $2.318 million in February.
On the original art side, John Romita Sr.'s cover for Amazing Spider-Man #41 sold for $656,250. That cover features the first appearance of the Rhino. Romita's art has been on a tear at Heritage.
Two seven-figure lots inside the first hour of the live session, according to Heritage.
Why This Matters Beyond One Book
Conserved and Restored Golden Age books exist by the thousands. Most have traded at a steep discount to unrestored value at the same grade.
A Conserved Action #1 hitting $1.4 million signals that scarcity is starting to override the restoration penalty at the top of the market. There are fewer than 100 Action Comics #1s in existence. Buyers who want one and can't reach $6 million for an unrestored copy have a new ceiling to chase.
That logic carries down. A Conserved Detective #27. A Restored Superman #1. A Conserved All Star #8. Every Golden Age key with restoration work on the label now has a fresh data point pulling its comps up.
The Quiet Trend
The comic market has been running hot without the headlines that sports cards and Pokemon get. Heritage moved $27.5 million in its February comics sale. Now another $22.38 million in May.
The Conserved record falling is the kind of result that doesn't make CNBC. It just resets every restored Golden Age comp in the country.
