A COLLECTION of rare Marvel artwork is set to go under the hammer in Wokingham later this month.
Five limited edition boxed canvases and two folios of prints will be auctioned by Martin & Pole on Wednesday, July 27.
Among the canvases available at the auction house on Milton Road is The Amazing Spider-Man, Venom, Dead-Pool and Star Wars.
The unopened folios each contain six giclee prints featuring a mix of Marvel superheroes.
Phillip Knapper, senior valuer and auctioneer at Martin & Pole, expects them to attract a pretty penny.
He said: “We are hoping that, if they all sell, they will make about £40,000.
“I think that for the right collector they’ll look magnificent on the wall and what makes them more valuable is that they are framed which makes them more desirable.”
Mr Knapper has been in the industry for more than 35 years but insisted he has never sold anything like this collection before.
“When we go on a call we never know what we are going to look at but this is something I have never sold before.
“There is a big auction house in London who specialise in this but they only have one sale a year, in November.
“So he rang me and I went straight out, signed a contract and brought them back.”
The artwork has been stored by a local collector in a small warehouse for the last few years.
All items are numbered and come with certificates of authenticity from Marvel.
The value is significantly increased by the signature of revolutionary comic book writer Stan Lee.
Stan Lee, who died in November 2018, was a crucial figure in the success of Marvel and created many mythic figures synonymous with the brand including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor.
The auction gets underway at 10am on Wednesday, July 27, and the Marvel items are the first lots on offer.
Bidding can be done in person or online.
For more information visit: martinpole.co.uk/antique-auctions
