An incredibly rare copy of Superman's first appearance just shattered the old record for most expensive comic ever.

Last month, we told you about a copy of Action Comics #1 (the 1938 comic featuring the first-ever Superman story) making its way to auction that could set the all-time sales record for a comic book. There are believed to be fewer than 100 copies of the original printing of Action Comics #1 in existence, and this copy is one of only two ever to receive a 9.0 out of 10 rating from the Certified Guaranty Company (the standard for comic-book grading). The copy is also, thanks to years of storage in a cedar chest at the home of its original owner, one of only two copies of the comic ever to receive a "perfect white" page designation, something even the most expensive copies of the book that came before it didn't have.

From the start, the book seemed poised to make history, and when it went on sale earlier this month it almost immediately attracted a bid of $1 million. By last Friday, bidding had reached $2.19 million, making it a guaranteed record-breaker. For the last few days, the question hasn't been whether the comic would break the all-time sales record. The question has instead been how high this book could climb.

Well, the auction for the book closed late Sunday, and now we have our answer. The final selling price for this super-rare copy of Action Comics #1 is: $3,207,852. That shatters the previous record of $2.16 million, which was paid for another copy of Action Comics #1, previously owned by actor and comic book fan Nicolas Cage, in 2011. We knew all along that this book had the potential to break records, but the combination of its rarity, great condition and those "perfect white" pages was even more potent than we thought.

So today ultra-rare comic-book collecting and dealing has reached new monetary heights. It's quite possible no comic will ever hit this mark again. You never know, though. Someone could have a copy of Action #1 tucked away somewhere right now, just waiting to be discovered by hungry collectors.

(Via CBR)