Published 17:55 IST, November 21st 2019
Original Tintin page sold for 3,94,000 euros at Paris auction
An original 'Tintin' page was reportedly sold for 3,94,000 euros in the auction held in Paris on November 20. The page shows Tintin and his dog snowy.
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In an auction held in Paris on November 20, an original page from a classic Tintin comic book was reportedly sold for 3,94,000 euros. The page from King Ottokar's Sceptre which is the eighth album of the Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi made in 1938 using Indian ink, blue watercolour and white gouache. Initially, the page was valued at 2,80,000 to 3,00,000 euros but was sold for far above its estimate. The page shows Tintin and his dog snowy trying to wrestle the sceptre away from the hands of thugs.
In the same auction, another drawing from 1951 fetched 62,000 euros while another 1943 illustration of Tintin holding a model of the Unicorn ship went for approximately 81,250 euros. According to international media reports the Paris auction house Articurial will be organising another auction of comic book items on November 23 which will reportedly include a Tintin drawing from The Shooting Star valued at 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 euros. Most of the old Tintin cover illustrations are on display at the Herge museum in the Belgian town of Louvain-la-Neuve, according to a text in the Heritage Auctions catalogue by Philippe Goddin, who has written several books about Tintin and Herge, including a seven-volume chronology.
First published "Tintin" cover sold for $1.1 mn
Back in June, an original drawing used for the first published "Tintin" cover was also sold at auction in Dallas for $1.12 million at the Heritage Auctions house. The illustration, by Tintin creator Herge (the pseudonym of Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi), shows the plucky young reporter sitting on a tree stump carving a makeshift propeller for his plane after the original was damaged in a rough landing somewhere in the Soviet Union. His faithful dog Snowy (Milou in the original French) sits and watches, bandaged from tail to nose. The drawing sold was in India ink and gouache, was signed by Herge. A Heritage Auctions spokesman reportedly said that the illustration, which turned up in Brussels, was one of the "rare cover illustrations signed by Herge in private hands," as well as the oldest.
17:38 IST, November 21st 2019