Finding a safe investment in crisis times may be tough, but a year before Hollywood takes Tintin to the big screen, collectors are vying for rare memorabilia of the cub Belgian cartoon hero at a May 29 Paris auction.
The Tintin series — created by Georges Remi under his pen name Herge — has become one of the most popular comics in the world with translations in more than 50 languages and 200 million copies of the 24 books sold. There is huge appetite for collectors of anything related to the diminutive investigative journalist and adventurer.
In 2008, the original cover of Tintin in America sold for about 750,000 euros ($931,200). Last year, a lot of almost 600 items, including hand-drawn original cartoon strips, raised nearly 1.2 million euros with buyers from as far away as China and Lebanon.
This auction will include 230 items from about 70 collectors that even Herge’s foundation Moulinsart nev-er knew existed. “There’s been a huge explosion of strip cartoons over the last 10-15 years and with that a secondary market has developed,” said Alexis Velliet, director of auctioneers Piasa. —Reuters