CAPTAIN Haddock would have choked on his whisky: original artwork for a Tintin comic book fetched a record US$1.2 million at a Paris auction on March 29th.
The 1932 oil painting, executed for the iconic cover of Tintin in America smashed the previous world record for an original comic book work.
That was set in March 2007 when a drawing by artist Enki Bilal called Bleu Sang (Blue Blood) fetched €177,000.
Judged a “museum piece” in Artcurial’s auction catalogue, the painting by Tintin’s Belgian creator Herge finally sold for €764,200, including expenses.
Total earnings for today’s one-off sale of 650 comic originals – each of which had a starting price of €280,000 – came to roughly €3.4 million, the gallery and auction house said.
Via news
