TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #87

Pre-1977 single-edition book, no direct/newsstand distinction applies. Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a mid-grade Silver Age book: soft corners, some surface scuffing and minor edge wear along the right side, and slight color fading in the yellow field at upper left. There appears to be a faint horizontal crease near the mid-lower portion of the cover and mild spine stress; no major tears or missing pieces are visible. Book is in a protective sleeve which slightly obscures fine surface detail; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Tales of the Unexpected #87 arrived in March 1965 as DC continued its long-running anthology of science-fiction and suspense shorts, a title that by this point had shifted away from its earlier superhero flirtations (Space Ranger, Automan) back toward stand-alone twist-ending tales in the vein of its sister books Strange Adventures and House of Mystery. Like most mid-run issues of this series, #87 is not tied to a first appearance, an origin, or a notable creative milestone; it represents the steady anthology output of the DC mystery line during a period when such books were a dependable but unglamorous part of the publisher's schedule.

The market profile reflects that lack of a hook: certified population is extremely small across all grades, with only a handful of sales recorded from grade 7.0 up through a single 9.6. Pricing rises sharply between the upper-middle grades and the top of the census, consistent with the general Silver Age pattern where scarcity at the high end drives disproportionate premiums even absent any storyline significance. Demand is driven almost entirely by condition-census chasers and completists working through the Tales of the Unexpected run rather than by character or story interest.

This is a book that trades as a run-filler for Silver Age DC anthology collectors and as a registry target for those pursuing top-census slots in an under-tracked title. Lower and mid-grade raw copies move modestly and infrequently, priced more by general Silver Age anthology demand than by any specific data point on this issue. At the high end, a 9.8 would be a census-defining copy with no direct comparable sale, meaning its eventual market price would likely be discovered at auction rather than predicted from the existing thin sales history.