Historic 'Charlie Hebdo' issue sells for up to $117K

Copies of Charlie Hebdo are going for sale online for up to $117,000 one week after a terror attack left 12 dead at the Paris offices of the satirical publication.

With newsstand copies of the historic issue selling out shortly after going on sale Wednesday morning in France, the online auction site eBay featured thousands of issues for sale, many of them the most recent since last week's attack. The cover features a cartoon of the prophet Muhammed holding up a sign that, translated, reads, "I am Charlie."

On top of the cartoon is a banner headline in French that, translated, reads, "All is forgiven." The Muslim world has criticized Islamic portrayals in Charlie Hebdo.

One issue sold on the American eBay site for $20,000 after the winner beat out 116 other bids. Another offered on eBay's American site sold for $14,672.48 under the "Buy It Now" option. In both cases, eBay did not make the buyer's identity public.

One copy of the issue was selling on the French version of eBay for 100,000 euros, or $117,839, according to CNBC.com.

Another issue on the American version of the auction site was selling Wednesday night for a starting bid of $5,000 with a "Buy It Now" option of $15,000. According to the eBay, 27 people per hour were watching the item. The seller, who could not be reached via e-mail, is from Latvia but wrote in the listing that he traveled to Paris specifically to buy this issue of the magazine.

A copy of the Italian edition was selling on the American eBay site with a starting bid requested of $7,500, while a "Buy It Now" version of the publication was selling for $4,999. That version's seller, who is based in the United Kingdom and France, also could not be reached but wrote on the listing, "I traveled to Paris at great personal cost to get this copy of the real deal."

Normally, the publication issued in 16 languages prints 60,000 copies but this week's printing was upped to 3 million and then 5 million, according to Time.

The newsstand price is the equivalent of $3.50.

A senior leader of al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack.

At the end of this week, a few hundred issues will go on sale in large cities in the United States.