Animation & Comic Art: Auctionata makes a splash with their first auction on the subject
- by Thomas C. McKinney
Selections from Animation & Comic Art
This month one of the sales Rare Book Hub is covering deals in a more contemporary and focused light. The name of the sale is Animation & Comic Art, and the auction house is Auctionata, an online auction-only company established in Berlin in 2012. In their relatively short tenure as a player in the auction scene, they have had striking success in the world of art, highlighted by their auction of a then newly discovered watercolor by Egon Schiele that sold for $2.4M and set the record for the highest grossing lot of fine art sold at online auction. They have proven themselves capable and worthy of handling extraordinary material, and this month, on October 14, they bring to public sale eighty-nine lots of varying significance, all with a place in the right collector’s possession. This is Auctionata’s first sale of animation and comic art, and they have begun by acquiring excellent material for consignment.
Featuring material from the 1930s to the present, no conversation on the topic of animation and comic art can be had without Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, being brought up. Five of his pen and ink drawings, three of which are in color, are on offer in the sale, with starting prices running between $3,000 and $7,500 (lots 16 through 20). Also for sale is a seven-foot tall bronze Cat in the Hat monument with a starting price of $50,000 (lot 21).
Another titan in modern comic art is Charles Schulz, and some of his works included in Animation & Comic Art are among the most important and famous of the entire sale. Lot 50 is an original Peanuts Daily Strip from 1966 featuring a story board of Charlie Brown being diagnosed with a baseball induced stomach ache by Lucy at her psychiatrist’s booth. This item has a starting bid of $10,000. Lot 52 is another Peanuts strip, but it commands a premium because of the star featured—none other than Snoopy. With the bidding starting at $16,000, Snoopy doesn’t come cheaply, but this piece is a classic worthy of its appraisal.
More big names appear in the sale too. Maurice Sendak has several items in the sale, including drawings of Where the Wild Things Are. Chuck Jones, of Looney Tunes fame, is also represented in five items. The list goes on: Walt Disney Studios, Matt Groening, and Tim Burton are all here. For a sale of not enormous scale, some enormous names certainly make it worthwhile.
Animation & Comic Art will be conducted at Auctionata’s New York office, and the sale, like all of Auctionata’s, is online only. However, the auction is broadcast live on the web and therefore a form of live bidding is available. Telephone and absentee bidding are also available. Should you be interested in any of the material, please visit Auctionata’s site and the auction page here. The catalog may be browsed from that link, but a downloadable PDF is also up for download here.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
