A sketch by Winnie the Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard titled "Tiggers Don't Like Honey" fetched 31,200 pounds ($49,770) at auction Tuesday, well above the pre-sale estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 pounds ($24,000 to $32,000).
Bonhams auction house said the drawing, of Pooh dipping his paw into a honey pot while Tigger and Piglet look on, was bought by a private collector in Germany for his wife who had loved the characters as a child.
The large oval pencil drawing is an enlarged version of an illustration that appeared in A.A. Milne's children's classic "The House at Pooh Corner."
A sketch drawn for another of Shepard children's books, the Wind in the Willows, sold for 7,440 pounds ($11,842). The drawing outlines Rat and Mole having a picnic on the riverbank.
The sale also included items from the collection of Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter, including a letter in which the author expressed her dislike of the merchandising of her character.
"There is nothing to be made of 'Peter' commercially," she wrote. "There have been dolls, china slippers, etc. for years — they bring in royalties; but somehow I never care for any of them."
The 1936 letter is addressed to dollmakers Elizabeth and Edith Todhunter, two sisters Potter entrusted to make Mr. McGregor and Peter Rabbit figures.
The Potter collection also included a signed first edition of "The Tailor of Gloucester," which tells the story of a poor tailor, his cat, and the mice that live in his shop. The lot sold for 3,840 pounds ($6,124).
The sale prices include a buyer's premium.
In another auction on Nov. 11, Bonhams will sell an unpublished watercolor illustration by Potter of a female rabbit who wore a pink ribbon around her neck but who did not appear in any of Potter's tales. Also going up for sale then, will be a Christmas card featuring guinea pigs designed by the author and illustrator, the auction house said.
A painting given a reserve of £1,500 sold for more than £2m at auction after bidders became convinced it was a Rembrandt self portrait. The work had hung on the wall of a house in Cirencester for several years before being sold in the town.
Philip Allwood - from Moore, Allen and Innocent - said he thought the portrait might be a Rembrandt but its owner said it had been checked and was not.
But bidders who drove the price up to £2m were convinced otherwise, he added.
Mr Allwood said he had to make sure the painting was not misdescribed in the auction room's catalogue.
"When I first saw it I said it looked very much like a Rembrandt and was assured by the client it had been checked out years ago and it wasn't," he said.
Deciding to do some more research on the painting, Mr Allwood spoke to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Experts there assured him that, while it was of the period of Rembrandt, it was "probably not" painted by him.
He said the auction house was not sure so was very careful not to misdescribe the painting in the catalogue.
"But on the day of the auction both the winner and under bidder seemed convinced it was genuine," Mr Allwood added.
"The buyer who wishes to remain anonymous seemed very relaxed spending that sort of money."
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/7064382.stm
This isn't exactly comics or original artwork, but just thought I'd add a post on the Barry Bonds #756 home run baseball. This is the ball that technically breaks Hank Aaron's long time "All Time Home Run" record. I say technically, since who knows what will happen to the record if/when MLB doesn't accept Barry's performance as legitimate. Further down the road, this ball will be a bargain I believe. Whoever ends up picking this up for the long-haul will have something significant from it, to show in the end. It will be a better investment than whatever Todd McFarlane dropped on Sosa's and McGwire's 1998 homerun race baseballs, that's for sure. How much better of an investment, only time will tell..
