This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/1/2011
[CATALOG CORRECTION: The imagery of the signed issue featured in the catalog and the one featured online differ. Please note that the images featured in this online listing format represent the actual magazine being offered]
Presented is the magazine that launched an empire: the first issue of Playboy, published in 1953. The magazine has been inscribed in black felt tip pen ("grading "10") on the cover by its creator, "Hugh M. Hefner." Although one of the most popular men's magazines in the world today, the first issue barely made it to newsstands. In 1953 Hugh Hefner, then working as a circulation manager for a children's magazine, was convinced that the market was ready for a new sophisticated men's magazine. Borrowing $8,000 from friends and relatives and investing $600 of his own money he would produce the first issue of his vision, titled Playboy, on his kitchen table, with the magazine premiering in December of that year. The initial Playboy magazine, featuring none other than Marilyn Monroe on the cover, sold over 50,000 copies, producing just enough in revenue to allow for a second issue. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. By 1971 the magazine was selling 7 million copies a month, with the corporate holdings also including 23 various Playboy Clubs, resorts, hotels and casinos, as well as a modeling agency, a limousine service, a record label, and a TV and motion picture company. Today Playboy's trademark "bunny" logo is perhaps the most well known corporate symbol in the world and an enduring testament to Hugh Hefner's "Playboy" philosophy. The magazine is very well preserved and Near-Mint overall, with clean covers and fully intact bining with both staples. A first issue playboy without Hef’s signature is a highly sought after collectible that is becoming increasingly more valuable and difficult to find. Combine a high grade copy of the coveted first issue with a perfect signature from Hef and you have the ultimate Playboy investment-grade collectible! Accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity from James Spence Authentication (JSA).