It would appear that auction house Profiles in History had an unbelievable success with their Captain America: The First Avenger Auction event this past weekend, on behalf of Marvel Studios. The stand out single sale, of course, was “Lot #154 Captain Amerca complete hero suit“, which sold for $233,700 ($190,000 hammer plus $43,700 Buyer’s Premium). Over a quarter of a million dollars for one of presumably multiple copies of a costume from a movie that was released nine months ago. I am not easily surprised by anything in this art market, but this I find astounding and shocking. And my first thought immediately went to a concept discussed on this site in the past – the “Hype Premium” – but even that cannot come close to explaining this auction result.
Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated ‘Avengers’ movie will be released theatrically in the U.S. just a few weeks later, on May 4th.