Have you ever heard the saying, "You are worth more when you die than when you lived"? It is a statement that seems to be belittling those who have passed away, but it is a truth that we have to accept in the business world. This can happen to some artists, actors, or singers who were very famous during their lives, becoming legends. However, as time goes by, their popularity gradually declines. But then suddenly, the artist or singer who created that work dies suddenly. For example, Michael Jackson, whose merchandise or autographed items immediately increase in value several times. Similarly, the case of Dragon Ball creator Toriyama, who passed away suddenly on March 1, 2024, caused many of his collectibles to increase in value. One of them was a brand new copy of Weekly Shonen Jump issue 51, which was auctioned for 3.8 million yen.
This news story comes from the auction at Mandarake held on March 7th, which was only 7 days after the 1 year anniversary of Toriyama's death. The item being auctioned was a Weekly Shonen Jump comic book issue 51, in brand new condition from 1984, with almost no signs of being read. It was auctioned and ended at 3.8 million yen, which is about 868,215 baht. This magazine is worth this much because it is the magazine that published the very first episode of the Dragon Ball manga. Therefore, it has a lot of sentimental value for fans. The starting price for the auction was 500,000 yen, or about 114,292 baht, but the auction ended at a value that was 7 times higher than the original.
And before this, there was also the manga Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka, which had the first volume published in the past, which was also sold at a sky-high price. This doesn't even include the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine that printed Kinnikuman, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or the first episode of Saint Seiya, all of which had high prices when auctioned or sold. So it's no wonder that Weekly Shonen Jump, which has the first episode of Dragon Ball, would have such a high value. Meanwhile, another Weekly Shonen Jump magazine that was not expensive was Weekly Shonen Jump magazine issue 50, which advertised to fans that next week (in 1984) a new manga by Dr. Slump author, Dragon Ball, would be published. Just a few pages made the magazine instantly more valuable.
For those who are interested in collecting Weekly Shonen Jump issue 51, you can see it being sold at various auctions, but the price is so high that it is comparable to paying for a house or a car when calculated in Thai baht. For those who happen to have Weekly Shonen Jump issue 51, try auctioning it off. You might get a high price like this. Some people say that if Toriyama had not died, would this book have such a high auction price? This is something to think about when comparing the first chapters of many manga series published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, which are much cheaper than this Dragon Ball issue. It makes us think back to the first sentence that said that death is more valuable than life. This must be true.
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