When Andrew Vickers discovered some old comics in a dumpster, he did what any artist would do -- OK, maybe not any artist -- and transformed them into a man-sized (and -shaped) papier maché sculpture. And then he learned those comic books could have been worth nearly $30,000. The operative phrase there is could have been.

The sculpture, called "Paperboy," on display through Thursday in Sheffield, England, includes the first issue of The Avengers, which on its own might've been worth as much as $15,000 on its own. Y'know, before it was torn apart and pasted to a chicken-wire frame (granted, the comic probably wasn't in mint condition in the trash).

World of Superheroes owner Steve Eyre initially thought the sculpture was "fantastic," and then he recognized the cover of 1963's The Avengers #1 on "Paperboy's" inside-right leg.

"I've got a copy of that, which was published in 1963, that is worth well over £10,000," the retailer tells BBC News. "Then I started looking and there are six comics on this that together would be worth, even in the condition you can see, £20,000. "It would have been cheaper for Andrew to make this out of Italian marble because the raw materials that have gone in to it I could have sold for a lot more than he is going to sell this statue for."

Although most people might be angry with themselves after making such an expensive error, Vickers is amused. "To be honest I'm shocked but money has not got such a value to me. I think it is funny," he says. "I really love the idea of me creating something out of such expensive things that's worth less. I think it's brilliant."