At 2013 San Diego Comic Con, musician Jack White loaned his copy of Action Comics #1 to DC Entertainment for a party celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Superman. While most people were caught up in Man Of Steel director Zack Snyder and Man Of Steel star Henry Cavill also appearing at the party, we started wondering exactly where Jack White got his copy of Action Comics #1, since we never recalled any announcement of him purchasing a copy in the past.

Considering Jack White is only 38 years old, we knew we could probably rule out the possibility of him buying it off the newsstand. So, did he find it in the wall of an old abandoned house? Or did he pay a bunch of money for it at auction? To get to the bottom of this mystery, we took a high resolution photograph from the event of Henry Cavill posing with the Action Comics #1, and we blew it up so we could make out the CGC grade and serial number. The CGC grade on the comic was 6.0 and the serial number was 0973154001.

With the serial number, we were able to verify Jack White’s copy of Action Comics #1, as being a copy which was sold by ComicConnect.com for $317,200 in March 2009. At the time, the purchase set a world record for the most ever paid for a comic book at auction. When the comic was sold, it was reported that John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band System of a Down, submitted the winning bid on behalf of an unidentified client. The name of the actual buyer was never officially revealed that we can find, but now thanks to our detective work, we know who it was.

In February 2010, another copy of Action Comics #1 with a 8.0 grade sold for $1 million breaking the record, but for close to a year, Jack White owned the world record title of having paid the highest price ever for a comic book at auction. The current world record now stands at $2.16 million for a 9.0 grade of Action Comics #1, which was once owned by actor Nicolas Cage and was sold at auction in November 2011.