Hong Kong auction house focuses on Belgian comic strip artists
For the second time, works by Belgian comic strip artists will go under the hammer in Hong Kong. A preparatory sketch showing all the major Tintin characters will be the showpiece of the auction. In 2015, a black and white drawing by Hergé achieved more than €1 million.
The Artcurial auction house travelled to Asia with work by European comic strip artists for the first time in October 2015. Since the opening auction in Hong Kong was such a great success, comic strips will once again go under the hammer on 3 October 2016. A preparatory sketch by Hergé showing all the major Tintin characters should achieve the highest sales figure. Among other works, a sketch from the Tintin album ‘Red Sea Sharks’, a page from ‘The Yellow 'M'’ by Edgar P.Jacobs and a sketch of Guust Flater by Franquin will all be auctioned.
“Hong Kong, and by extension Asia, is crazy about comic strips. I expect that the new sketch by Hergé will also go under the hammer for more than €1 million”, explains Eric Leroy, comic strip expert at Artcurial. At the first auction in Hong Kong, an Asian collector bought a unique black and white drawing by Hergé for €1.1million. The most expensive original comic strip in the world is also one of Hergé's. The cover of the album ‘Tintin in America’ had a winning bid price of €1.3 million at an auction in Paris.