Auction of animation art draws cartoon collectors, lovers

NORTH ST. PAUL (AP) -- A 75th anniversary painting of 31 famous Walt Disney characters, inked by hand and hand-painted, fetched $2,200.

A limited edition of three hand-painted clear cellulose sheets, or "cels," from Disney's "Cinderella" brought in $900.

Two drawings and one hand-painted original production cel from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" also went for $900.

The three pieces were among more than 650 pieces of animation art produced by studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera and others that were sold Saturday in an auction of animation art from a local private collector.

About 250 people attended the auction conducted by Tracy Luther, co-owner of Luther Auctions. Luther estimated the auction brought in more than $100,000 for the private collector, who wished to remain anonymous.

Tracy Baskerville and her husband, Jamie, have been collecting animation art for about 2 1/2 years and own about 30 pieces. "We're trying to narrow our collection down to original production art," she said.

Those pieces are worth more because they have been used in a movie, a commercial or a cartoon, she said. Most of the art pieces being auctioned Saturday were cels, sheets of celluloid acetate, a type of plastic, with hand-painted images. In classical animation, as opposed to the computer-generated kind, each cel is photographed against a background. Like the little flip books in novelty stores, the cels give the illusion of movement when they are filmed in sequence.

Some of the pieces sold included cartoon characters used in advertisements such as the Nestle's Quik bunny, the Hawaiian Punch guy and the Hamm's Beer bear, an ad from the 1950s.

The former owner of the collection took good care of the art, Luther said. The pieces were all beautifully framed and properly preserved.

Bill Martin was one of the successful bidders who went away happy. He spent $400 on two pieces: Betty Boop and Woody Woodpecker with Andy Pandy.

Martin said he has been collecting animation art for 30 years. "But only real cartoons, not the ones they generate by computers," he said.

More people are collecting cel art for nostalgic reasons, so the prices have gone up, Martin said. Nonetheless, he was happy with Betty and Woody.

"These two are going in my office," he said.