Dad sells 'The Amazing Spider-Man' No. 1 comic to pay for daughter's wedding

In March of 1963, Richard Schaen bought The Amazing Spider-Man #1 comic book for 12 cents. Half a century later, he dusted that comic book off in his attic and sold it at auction for nearly $8,000 to help pay for his daughter's wedding.

He listed the comic with Comiclink.com, an auction company and was happily surprised when it sold for $7,900. Even minus the listing fee, the comic Schaen bought when he was 19 turned out to be quite a bargain at about $7,000. The condition was listed as a 6.5 on a scale of 10. A perfect copy could sell for three or four times more than that.

"I gave my daughter a promissory note for the money with a picture of the Spider-Man comic, which we can use to pay for a big part of the catering for her reception," he said.

Ironically, it was Jane's birth in 1981 that triggered Schaen's decision to stop buying and collecting comics, which he had been doing since he was a child. He grew up in the Cleveland area and most of his comics came from local drugstores.

Schaen also sold his first issue of Daredevil for nearly $2,000 and is set to sell his copies of three of the first six issues of The Hulk. He's got a great collection of comics and plans to slowly part ways with his hobby to help fund his retirement.

Schaen is now retired and is stunned that his hobby from decades ago will make his retirement a little easier.

"I'm in no rush to sell them off. I'll do it a little at a time," he said. "Whatever is left after I'm gone will be sold by my family." [Cleveland]