I’ve writtten before (quite a lot, actually) about collecting stamps about comics, and I’ve written about counterfeit stamps, fake stamps, satirical stamps and collectibles looking like stamps, but this is going one step further.
Turns out in 1964 comic artist Marie Severin (Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Not Brand Ecch) was asked to design a number of stamps to be included in Marvel comics, as an early precursor of the mid-1970 Marvel Value Stamps that led countless gullible young readers to cut up their comics and thus destroying their later value (ooh, shudder).
Severin designed 36 stamps, which were later divvied up by a collector. Recently, a set of five stamps featuring, amongst others, Captain America and the Rawhide Kid, were auctioned off for 1320 USD, each in their own frame with faux copper nameplate. I’m not sure if the owner got tired of them or something, but they’re already back up for sale. For 2000 USD. Even Picassos don’t become more valuable by 50% that fast.
Still, they’re quite nice sketches. I love how she painstakingly added the perforation.
