Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Original Book Cover Art Sells for $1.92 Million 0

[delekkerste]

Amazing, amazing piece. I seconded what a friend said: I'd take this all day long over the DKR #1 cover (and still have money left over). Or, who knows - maybe Jim H. bought it and he doesn't have to choose!  

Wonder if the owner will come forward. I think it's the perfect kind of piece for the Lucas Museum and would love to see it displayed there.  

Edited June 26 by delekkerste

[-m]

It’s great to see these book illustrations getting the attention they deserve. I agree that having this on public display would be a big win.🏆 

[jjonahjameson11]

Wonder if it’s Drake.

[Bronty]

Impressive result.   I wonder if any of the other early illustrations will come to market as a result.

[PhilipB2k17]

On 6/26/2024 at 11:34 AM, delekkerste said:

Amazing, amazing piece. I seconded what a friend said: I'd take this all day long over the DKR #1 cover (and still have money left over). Or, who knows - maybe Jim H. bought it and he doesn't have to choose!  

Wonder if the owner will come forward. I think it's the perfect kind of piece for the Lucas Museum and would love to see it displayed there.  

That's only slightly more than $1,919,000 more than what I just paid for the David Mattingly "Kings in Hell" book cover painting. 

[cstojano]

Thanks for sharing, had no idea this was coming up for sale. Will Google around but my first question is what dept handled this?

Was their a pre-auction estimate on this?

Seems JKR's social media profile hasn't dampened the brand at all.

An unknown artist, to me at least, hopefully they were the consignor.

EDIT: 600k estimate, NOT in the artist's hands as it sold before. 106k in 2001 given the 1997 date seems a rather strong price back then doesn't it?

https://hypebeast.com/2024/5/harry-potter-philosophers-stone-cover-art-sothebys-auction

Single owner auction sale: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/the-library-of-dr-rodney-p-swantko

Edited June 26 by cstojano

[Brian Peck]

On 6/26/2024 at 11:57 AM, cstojano said:

Thanks for sharing, had no idea this was coming up for sale. Will Google around but my first question is what dept handled this?

Was their a pre-auction estimate on this?

Seems JKR's social media profile hasn't dampened the brand at all.

An unknown artist, to me at least, hopefully they were the consignor.

EDIT: 600k estimate, NOT in the artist's hands as it sold before. 106k in 2001 given the 1997 date seems a rather strong price back then doesn't it?

https://hypebeast.com/2024/5/harry-potter-philosophers-stone-cover-art-sothebys-auction

Single owner auction sale: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/the-library-of-dr-rodney-p-swantko

I don't think 106K back in 2001 was that high, remember Harry Potter has a much bigger fan base. The 4th book had gone on sale the year before, the first film was released that year. Potter mania was everywhere. Either someone or a family member is/was a big fan of books/ film or someone bought it for investment (and it paid off). First editions of the books were going for alot and this is one of a kind.

Edited June 27 by Brian Peck

[buyatari]

100k seems like a lot back in 2001.

When did the first US comic art break the 100k barrier?

 

[Readcomix]

I guess nostalgia is one heckuva drug!

[Qalyar]

I've always thought Harry looks.about 30 years old in that art, rather than 12. But I do rather like the style. I don't like it $1.9M though, shall we say.

[Dr. Balls]

On 6/26/2024 at 9:34 AM, delekkerste said:

I'd take this all day long over the DKR #1 cover (and still have money left over).

99.999% of the value in DKR has got to be in recognition, with the other .001% going towards Frank Miller's "Basics of Airbrushing" VHS tape he bought before doing the background to that cover.

[artdealer]

On 6/26/2024 at 7:17 PM, Dr. Balls said:

99.999% of the value in DKR has got to be in recognition, with the other .001% going towards Frank Miller's "Basics of Airbrushing" VHS tape he bought before doing the background to that cover.

Except that Lynn Varley did the airbrushing. 

[Bronty]

On 6/26/2024 at 7:17 PM, Dr. Balls said:

99.999% of the value in DKR has got to be in recognition, with the other .001% going towards Frank Miller's "Basics of Airbrushing" VHS tape he bought before doing the background to that cover.

99% of the value of most valuable  illustrations, and even most fine art, is in “the recognition.”    There has to be more than just an image in a vacuum to make people spend more than four figures on something.    There’s got to be a known story / character/ artist / product that the image relates to, something.    Pure image in a vacuum (read : no name artist unpublished illustration) is never going to get people to loosen up their wallets.

[gumbydarnit]

Would it possibly have done better at Heritage?

[delekkerste]

On 6/26/2024 at 10:10 PM, artdealer said:

Except that Lynn Varley did the airbrushing. 

It's a great Lynn Varley piece! 

[delekkerste]

On 6/27/2024 at 7:53 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Would it possibly have done better at Heritage?

You never know, but, I suspect that Sotheby's found the most likely buyers (or they found Sotheby's). Maybe we'll learn more when (if) we learn who bought it. 

[Bronty]

On 6/27/2024 at 8:35 AM, delekkerste said:

You never know, but, I suspect that Sotheby's found the most likely buyers (or they found Sotheby's). Maybe we'll learn more when (if) we learn who bought it. 

Agreed - while we can't know for sure, at almost $2m it would at least appear that venue wasn't an issue!

Edited June 27 by Bronty

[TeddieMercede]

Potter piece worth every penny, especially long term. 

[cstojano]

On 6/27/2024 at 6:01 AM, Bronty said:

Agreed - while we can't know for sure, at almost $2m it would at least appear that venue wasn't an issue!

Something tells me Sothebys was the right venue here though can't put my finger on why. As noted above, it was a weird sale, single owner library collection of what appear to be a bunch of obscure books (Golf, An Early Instructional Manual for 7-10k!!) and only two pieces of art. Something tells me the winning bidding didn't have 30 other items on their watchlist for this sale

[Dr. Balls]

On 6/27/2024 at 8:05 AM, TeddieMercede said:

Potter piece worth every penny, especially long term. 

Agreed. That's going to be a keystone piece of art from this era 100 years from now. Anyone know if the Mary GrandPre pieces for the US editions are around?