Snow White and Friends Bring Over $1 Million at Heritage Auctions' Animation Art Sale
BEVERLY HILLS, California - A Production Cel and Key Master Background of the Evil Queen and her Magic Mirror from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs conjured $59,750 to lead Heritage Auctions’ $1,385,924 Animation Art Auction in Beverly Hills. The Dec. 10 auction is the fifth straight animation auction to surpass $1 million during the last two years, realizing a grand total of $7.4 million.
“This only proves the animation market is increasingly being considered as fine art,” said Jim Lentz, Director of Animation at Heritage Auctions. “No other auction house has been able to deliver consignors anywhere near our $7 million in successful bids over the last two years.”
A rare, Production Cel Sequence and Pan Key Master Background Setup from the 1965 holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, sold for $59,750, but it was art from Walt Disney Studios that claimed the lion’s share of bids.
Concept art from artist Mary Blair proved popular, as her imagining of Disneyland’s It’s a Small World attraction sold for $31,070; her concept painting for the mermaid sequence in 1953’s Peter Pan ended at $26,290 and concept art of Pan and Wendy, Michael, John and Tinker Bell flying off to Neverland sold for $14,340.
A hand-painted Cel Setup of the Blue Fairy chatting with Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio sold for $21,510, and Production Cels and Master Pan Production Background Setup of the main characters from 1955’s Lady and the Tramp ended at $13,145.
Warner Brothers cels by Chuck Jones saw intense bidder interest as 15 bidders competed to own a single Production Cel of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny from the animated short What’s Opera, Doc?, which sold for $13,145. A Color Painting of Bugs Bunny and Friends hand-drawn by Jones himself sold for $12,547.
Additional highlights include, but are not limited to:
A group of Four Original Drawings of various Disney characters published by Good Housekeeping in the 1930s and 1940s sold for a combined $21,569.
An Original Painting featuring “Snow White” by Peter Max sold for $11,950.
A drawing of the “Horned King” by Tim Burton for the 1985 film The Black Cauldron brought $11,950.
A circa 1935-39 Production Cel and Background Setup featuring both Mickey and Minnie Mouse from the short the Brave Little Tailor/Music Land realized $10,755.
A rare, detailed Model Sheet from 1940, showing early renditions of title character Pinocchio, sold for $9,560, nearly double its $5,000 pre-auction estimate.
Gulliver's Travels Production Cel Setup and Key Master Background Setup (Max Fleischer, 1939) sold for $7,170
A rare Title Cel and Master Background Set up for Super Friends animated television program sold for $1,673.
Heritage Auctions is the largest auction house founded in the United States and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $800 million, and over one million online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and receive access to a complete record of prices realized, with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
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