The most anybody has ever paid in public for this comic is a little over five thousand dollars. On a Silver Age first appearance that is unusual enough to be the whole story. Showcase 37 value never got the run-up.
The Metal Men debut here in early 1962, six robots with distinct personalities, in a tryout issue that was reportedly assembled in a hurry to fill a gap.
A team nobody built a market around
The Metal Men have been in print on and off for sixty years, appeared in animation and turned up in film, and none of it has produced a collector market of the kind the Flash or Green Lantern tryouts have.
That is not a criticism of the comic. It is simply what the sales record says, and for a buyer it is good news: this is a genuine 1962 DC first appearance available for less than most people spend on a used car.
A hundred and fifty-one documented sales across twenty-two years is on the thin side, and it means the ladder below has gaps rather than depth. Two sales in a grade is common here; ten is not.
To identify it: 10 cents and a March-April 1962 date under the Showcase banner. Adjacent numbers in this title feature entirely different characters and sell for a fraction of it.
The top of a very short ladder
CGC’s auction reporting has never included this comic, which is why none of these figures is a link. Heritage supplied nearly all of them.
| Grade | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.0 | $5,040 | Heritage Auctions, April 2021 |
| CGC 9.2 | $3,884 | Heritage Auctions, November 2013 |
| CGC 9.0 | $3,840 | Heritage Auctions, May 2020 |
| CGC 8.5 | $2,400 | Heritage Auctions, May 2024 |
| CGC 8.5 | $2,270 | Heritage Auctions, March 2016 |
| CGC 8.0 | $2,000 | eBay, February 2024 |
| CGC 9.2 | $1,725 | Heritage Auctions, June 2004 |
| CGC 8.0 | $1,525 | Heritage Auctions, March 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $1,080 | Heritage Auctions, December 2023 |
| CGC 7.5 | $870 | Heritage Auctions, May 2024 |
The whole documented history of this comic above 7.0 fits in ten rows, and the biggest number in it is $5,040 for a CGC 9.0 in April 2021. Nothing higher has ever been recorded at any grade.
The 9.0 line went $3,840 in May 2020 and $5,040 eleven months later, which is the only real appreciation visible on this page, and it stopped there.
Underneath, the 8.5 has been almost perfectly flat across eight years: $2,270 in March 2016 and $2,400 in May 2024. Eight years, a hundred and thirty dollars.
The 8.0 is the only lane going backwards. It brought $2,000 on eBay in February 2024 and $1,525 at Heritage in March 2026, which is about a quarter off in two years and the most recent movement on the book.
As with everything on this site, those figures come through CGC’s reporting of other companies’ auctions and Heritage’s own published results. GoCollect and PriceCharting track Showcase #37 independently, and if their numbers disagree with mine it is worth finding out which of us is wrong.
Showcase #37 value in each grade
151 sales tracked back to 2004; here are the three freshest in every grade.
| Grade | Sold for | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.2 | $3,884 | Heritage Auctions, November 21, 2013 |
| CGC 9.2 | $1,725 | Heritage Auctions, June 12, 2004 |
| CGC 9.0 | $5,040 | Heritage Auctions, April 3, 2021 |
| CGC 9.0 | $3,840 | Heritage Auctions, May 2, 2020 |
| CGC 9.0 | $1,314 | Heritage Auctions, May 11, 2006 |
| CGC 8.5 | $2,400 | Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2024 |
| CGC 8.5 | $1,972 | Heritage Auctions, August 28, 2016 |
| CGC 8.5 | $2,270 | Heritage Auctions, March 27, 2016 |
| CGC 8.0 | $1,525 | Heritage Auctions, March 16, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $2,000 | eBay, February 12, 2024 |
| CGC 7.5 | $870 | Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2024 |
| CGC 7.5 | $1,080 | Heritage Auctions, December 21, 2023 |
| CGC 7.5 | $1,195 | eBay, October 12, 2021 |
| CGC 7.0 | $695 | eBay, July 1, 2026 |
| CGC 7.0 | $647 | eBay, December 5, 2025 |
| CGC 7.0 | $610 | eBay, August 17, 2025 |
| CGC 6.5 | $492 | Heritage Auctions, October 15, 2025 |
| CGC 6.5 | $590 | eBay, July 24, 2025 |
| CGC 6.5 | $1,140 | Heritage Auctions, April 19, 2022 |
| CGC 6.0 | $174 | eBay, June 7, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $382 | eBay, April 24, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $550 | eBay, August 7, 2025 |
| CGC 5.5 | $288 | Heritage Auctions, September 30, 2025 |
| CGC 5.5 | $450 | eBay, July 11, 2025 |
| CGC 5.5 | $400 | eBay, December 2, 2024 |
| CGC 5.0 | $400 | eBay, March 22, 2025 |
| CGC 5.0 | $265 | eBay, February 2, 2025 |
| CGC 5.0 | $296 | eBay, October 21, 2024 |
| CGC 4.5 | $385 | eBay, March 31, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $350 | eBay, October 24, 2025 |
| CGC 4.5 | $395 | eBay, September 19, 2025 |
| CGC 4.0 | $350 | eBay, November 15, 2025 |
| CGC 4.0 | $169 | Heritage Auctions, June 11, 2025 |
| CGC 4.0 | $300 | eBay, April 15, 2025 |
| CGC 3.5 | $250 | eBay, March 6, 2026 |
| CGC 3.5 | $300 | eBay, June 4, 2025 |
| CGC 3.5 | $250 | eBay, December 18, 2024 |
| CGC 3.0 | $160 | eBay, December 6, 2025 |
| CGC 3.0 | $225 | eBay, November 2, 2024 |
| CGC 3.0 | $200 | eBay, September 28, 2024 |
| CGC 2.5 | $159 | eBay, October 22, 2024 |
| CGC 2.5 | $180 | Heritage Auctions, July 23, 2024 |
| CGC 2.5 | $120 | eBay, June 26, 2024 |
| CGC 2.0 | $89 | Heritage Auctions, April 4, 2025 |
| CGC 2.0 | $125 | eBay, November 29, 2023 |
| Raw | $125 | eBay, July 29, 2026 |
| Raw | $317 | Heritage Auctions, July 23, 2026 |
| Raw | $200 | eBay, July 12, 2026 |
Every row above is a documented sale, verifiable in Heritage’s public Showcase issue index and in CGC’s published auction reporting. Five sales is the most any grade above 7.0 can muster, so the ladder below is short out of necessity.
Under seven hundred dollars, every time
Nothing in the readable grades has broken seven hundred dollars. Twenty-four of them changed hands over the past eighteen months and the ceiling held every time.
From September 2025 to July 2026: a 7.0 brought $695 and another $647, a 6.5 brought $492, a 6.0 brought $382 and another $174, a 5.5 brought $288, a 4.5 brought $385 and another $350, a 4.0 brought $350 and a 3.5 brought $250.
The two 6.0 results are worth a warning: $382 and $174, more than double apart. With this few sales a single quiet listing moves the apparent value of a grade a long way, and I would not read much into either one alone.
If you want a real Silver Age first appearance in a presentable grade for a few hundred dollars, this is close to the cheapest honest answer on my whole list.
Selling a Showcase #37
- Ten cents, March-April 1962. Check the issue number; the tryouts around it are unrelated and cheap.
- Do not expect a five-figure result. Nothing on this comic has ever sold above about five thousand dollars in public.
- Sell it raw below 7.0. Two submission fees would cost more than the entire readable band is worth.
- Name the characters. Metal Men collectors exist and they are not searching for the word Showcase.
Send photographs and I will give you an honest number, which on this comic will be smaller than you might hope and firmer than most books here manage.
First Metal Men?
Photograph the issue number under the Showcase banner with the ten-cent box and the March-April 1962 date. Neighboring numbers in this title are different characters entirely and worth a fraction. Text it to me.
I read every request myself.
Send photographs and I will place your copy in its grade lane against the same recent sales you can read above. Where you take it next is your call, and the options for selling in Southern California are worth knowing either way.
Related
- Showcase #34. The Atom tryout, a year earlier, and another affordable first.
- Showcase #22. The Green Lantern tryout, and the expensive end of this title.
- The 100 most valuable Silver Age comics. And what each one really sold for.
Cover images on this page are shown small, for identification, with the publisher credited in the caption. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, contact me and it comes down.
