Price history & market evidence
PriceCharting guide history
Dated guide estimates for this edition, separate from completed sales.
2 dated observations. Last recorded 2026-11-01. Source record #2403610
Price observations belong to this edition. Guide estimates, catalog references and completed sales are separate kinds of evidence.
| Grade | Amount | Evidence | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.2 | $24.53 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_2_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 9.4 | $27.75 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_4_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 9.6 | $115.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_6_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 9.8 | $104.93 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_8_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| RAW | $3.75 | PANEL_PROFITS · ungraded_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 10.0 | $136.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_10_0_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 4.0 | $7.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_4_0_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 6.0 | $10.50 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_6_0_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
| 8.0 | $16.81 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_8_0_valueguide | 1991-09-01 |
Reading this edition’s market
Compare the same cover, printing and grade before setting a bid. A raw guide or a higher-grade price does not establish a slab’s value. Include selling fees, shipping and the depth of completed-sale evidence when assessing an exit price.
The table includes 9 guide observations and 0 catalog references. These are reference values, not guaranteed sale proceeds.
Graded population
CGC records 80 graded copies for Sandman #30 (1991). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.
August
In the month of August, the dwarf Lycius is called to an audience with Caesar Augustus. Today, Caesar asks him to teach him how to appear to be a beggar, and then, they will go out into the streets as beggars, forsaking their nobility for just one day. Lycius shows Caesar how to appear boiled and blistered by rubbing soap on his body and covering it with vinegar.
Together, they sit on the steps of the Temple of the Avenging Mars and beg for money. There, Caesar explains how he came to be chosen as his uncle Julius Caesar's successor, and the way in which the Roman people make Gods of their rulers.
Eventually, Caesar confides that he knows the future. He has read every book of prophecy, and he discovered that there are two possible futures: one in which the Roman empire falls in just a few hundred years, and another in which the entire earth becomes a province of the empire. He chose the future that seemed most right to him, and burned all mention of the other. Caesar admits that the reason that he has become a beggar for the day is because he had a dream in which a strange man) informed him that in order to appease the gods he fears, and hide his actions from them, Caesar must become a beggar for a day. On that day, the gods will not be able to hear his thoughts. Dream reveals that he knows that Julius Caesar, Augustus' uncle had raped him as a boy, and that it is he whom Augustus fears.
The day over, Caesar and Lycius part ways, and some years later, the dwarf met the emperor playing beggar again, but they did not speak. The empire did not expand beyond Europe and Africa, and Lycius wonders if this is the future that Caesar chose.
| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Lycius Also in a flashforward * Caesar Augustus) Also as a statue **Supporting Characters:** * Dream) ** Aristeas of Marmora) Also in a flashforward **Antagonists:** * Julius Caesar) **Other Characters:** * Marcus Junius Brutus|Brutus * Caligula) Flashforward only * Gaius Cassius Longinus|Cassius * Claudius Flashforward only * Julia Minor (grandmother of Augustus)|Julia Minor * Livia|Lady Livia * Marcus (Roman citizen) * Nero) Flashforward only * Roman Army * Tiberius Flashforward only * Atia (mother of Augustus)|Atia * Cicero * The Endless ** Death) * Gods of Rome ** Apollo_(New_Earth)) ** Fortuna ** Jupiter) ** Mars) ** Mercury_(New_Earth)) ** Somnus ** Terminus (god)|Terminus * Lycius' father * Marcus Lepidus * Plautus * Pylades **Locations:** * Waking World ** Earth *** 1st Century BCE **** Italy ***** Rome **** Anatolia ***** Marmora **** Gaul **** Greece ***** Philippi **** Illyria ***** Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia **** Palestine ***** Judea **** Spain *** 1st Century **** Europe ***** Italy ****** Rome Flashforward only *** 7th Century BCE * Alternate Future (The Romans conquer the entire world) ** Africa ** Mesopotamia * Mount Olympus **Items:** * Dream's Ruby **Concepts:** * Ides of March * Magic
| Notes = * This issue was directly adapted into an episode_Episode%3A_Fables_and_Reflections%3A_Distant_Mirrors_-_August) of the Sandman audio drama). * This issue is reprinted in: ** Essential Vertigo: Sandman Vol 1 30 ** Sandman: Fables and Reflections (Collected) ** The Absolute Sandman Vol. 2 (Collected) ** The Sandman: Deluxe Edition, Book Two (Collected) ** The Sandman, Book Two (Collected)
| Trivia = | Recommended = | Links =
Creative credits
Writers: Neil Gaiman
Interior art: Bryan Talbot
Color: Daniel Vozzo
Source records & attribution
Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.
COMICBASE: comicbase:946709
GCD: 50067
PANEL PROFITS: 2403610