Tintin articles range from 3K-250K euros
There is huge appetite for collectors of anything related to Tintin — the diminutive investigative journalist and adventurer. A Belgian museum owns about 80-85 per cent of Herge’s work, but the scale of pieces ranging from original sketches, antiques and first edition covers, has surprised potential investors. The sale — with articles worth
from 3,000 euros to as much as 250,000 euros — includes one of just four bronze statues in circulation depicting a bequiffed Tintin with his trusted fox terrier sidekick Snowy valued at between 100,000-120,000 euros. “What has created the biggest surprise is a gouache of Captain Haddock (known for his colourful curses such as “blistering barnacles!”), Tintin and Professor Calculus with sea shells of disproportionate sizes that nobody knew about,” said Velliet. “It goes beyond the realm of the comic book ... it’s a perfect drawing of Tintin, but yet a little surrealist.”
The painting up for grabs for between 50,000-70,000 euros was offered to a friend of Herge who collected sea shells. The auction is timely. A movie, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, directed by Stephen Spielberg will give a Hollywood spin to the intrepid reporter in 2011. Likewise, a civil case in Belgium launched earlier in May against the publishers of Tintin in Congo over the portrayal of Africans in the book has kept the series in the media. Tintin made his first appearance in 1929.
—Reuters
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