AJ Scaramucci's new venture just bought the first appearance of Iron Man for $2 million. And he's just getting started.
The minds of certain pockets of the collectible world exploded earlier this year when a rare Pokémon card sold for record $16.5 million. Heads spun when it was revealed that the buyer was AJ Scaramucci, the founder of venture capital firm Solari Capital and the son of investor and former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
That sale was just the opening salvo for Scaramucci, who has since founded Treasure Trove, a collectible venture dedicated to what he calls “alternative assets.”
This summer, the investor found himself making another record-setting deal when his company paid $2 million for a copy of Tales of Suspense No. 39, the Marvel Comics title that first introduced Iron Man, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively report. The 1963 comic, which is the only known copy to be given the mint or near mint grade of 9.8 by the grading company Certify Guarantee Company, now joins a copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (the first appearance of Spider-Man) and Fantastic Four No. 1 as the only comics from the Silver Age to hit that threshold.
Scaramucci is new to the collecting field, picking up the hobby during the Covid era. In an arena that is about nerd passion, he brings a calculating unemotional eye to the cultural value of material based on intellectual property. “I see collectibles in the same way I see my gold and Bitcoin investing,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
