One of the first copies containing the first adventure of original superhero Superman, which cost 10 cents in 1938, sold for $3.2 million (2.4 million euros) in an auction on eBay.

The copy, which is in mint condition, fetched the highest ever price for a comic book. It received a very rare 9.0 rating on a 10-point scale used to measure vintage comic books' condition.

It was kept for decades in a cedar chest in the West Virginia mountains by a man who had bought it off a newsstand, seller Darren Adams recently told The Washington Post. After the original owner died, a collector bought it from his estate and built a similar cedar chest to store it, Adams told the newspaper.

In 2011, another "Action Comics No 1" copy sold for $2.1 million (1.6 million euros). The comic book marks the dawn of the cartoon superhero. Between 100 to 150 copies are still believed to exist.

New York comics dealers Stephen Fishler and Vincent Zurzolo submitted Sunday's record-setting bid in the eBay auction. The buyer has not been revealed yet.

Some of the proceeds will go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, in recognition of the late actor who personified Superman on the silver screen.

ng/jr (dpa, AP)