A UK collector who paid just £20 for a box of comics at a car boot sale discovered years later that it contained dozens of exceptionally rare Superman editions. After remaining forgotten in his loft, 47 copies of the 1988 comic 'This Island Bradman' sold for a combined £63,440, including buyer’s fees, at an auction in Surrey on November 4, 2025.
The sale, conducted by Ewbank’s Auctions, nearly doubled the collection’s pre-sale estimate of £35,000, according to the auction house and its published results.The collector, who has not been publicly identified, purchased the box roughly a decade earlier from a seller at a car boot sale following a house clearance. He initially had little reason to suspect that the comics were valuable. Describing himself to Ewbank’s as a collector of ephemera rather than comics, he said he had no idea what he had bought.The box was put away in his loft and remained there until the Covid-19 pandemic, when he finally had time to investigate its contents. Online research led him to the unusual story behind the comics and their reputation among Superman enthusiasts. The decisive clue was the number of copies: an account of the original commission mentioned 48 comics being cleared away after an event, matching the number he had found.
From a private family gift to a rare Superman comic
The story of 'This Island Bradman' began in 1988, when British businessman Godfrey Bradman commissioned a special Superman comic for his son Daniel’s bar mitzvah.
According to Ewbank’s account, building work at the family home had exposed Daniel’s extensive action-comic collection to asbestos, leading to the collection being removed and destroyed.The bespoke comic was commissioned as a replacement gift, with copies intended for distribution to guests at the celebration. Its story featured Daniel Bradman and his friend Andrew Hunt alongside Superman. Rather than creating an entirely separate character or adventure, DC Comics incorporated the personalised story into a Superman comic.The eight-page story was written by David Levin, with artwork by Curt Swan and Angelo Torres. Swan was a major Superman artist whose work helped define the character’s comic-book appearance for decades. The involvement of established creators added to the appeal of an edition that was already unusual because of its private origins.The precise original print run has not been definitively established. Ewbank’s estimated that around 200 copies may have been produced, with more than half distributed to guests.
After the event, the remaining copies were reportedly supposed to be discarded. However, a member of the clean-up crew is said to have kept them, preserving a group of comics that subsequently passed through other hands before eventually reaching the car boot sale.Over time, 'This Island Bradman' acquired a reputation as one of the rarest Superman comics. Some proof copies from DC Comics’ offices had reportedly entered circulation, allowing collectors to learn of its existence despite the limited distribution of the original commission.
The box found in the UK was particularly significant because it contained the surviving group of 48 copies that enthusiasts had long hoped might reappear.
One copy sold online before the auction
After researching the comics, the collector began investigating their potential value. He learnt about professional comic grading and tested the market by listing one copy on eBay. According to his account to Ewbank’s, it sold for £750. The comic subsequently appeared on the platform again with a £30,000 asking price, highlighting the gap that can exist between a completed sale and a seller’s hoped-for valuation.
An asking price, however, does not establish what a comic is actually worth.The remaining collection was eventually offered through Ewbank’s, a UK auction house based in Surrey. Rather than releasing the comics gradually over several years, the auction house offered 47 copies individually in one sale. Its pre-auction estimate for the collection was £35,000, reflecting the different conditions of the surviving issues.Ewbank’s comic specialist Tom Francis-Duma said the collection presented a rare opportunity for dedicated Superman collectors to acquire an edition that had been difficult to find. The comics varied in condition, with some professionally graded examples reaching CGC 9.6 out of 10. Such grades indicate exceptionally well-preserved copies, although grading scores alone do not determine the final market price.The auction ultimately exceeded expectations. The 47 lots collectively realised £63,440, including buyer’s fees, while the auction house’s later reporting put the hammer total at almost £50,000. The distinction matters because the hammer price is the amount at which the auctioneer sells an item, whereas the final total including buyer’s fees is higher. Ewbank’s catalogue records show that individual copies sold for four-figure sums in many cases, with the most expensive example reaching £2,600 including fees.