Tintin page sells for a record 1.55 million euros
A page from the 'Explorers on the Moon' book has been sold for the record sum of 1.55 million euros at an auction in Paris.
Depicting Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock dressed in spacesuits, enjoying the joys of weightlessness during their adventures on the Moon and admiring the beautiful blue planet; the page was auctioned by Artcurial in Paris on Saturday 19 November. The 50cm x 35cm drawing created in Chinese ink by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé typifies the story of the 'Explorers of the Moon' album (1954).
The drawing was estimated at approximately 700,000 to 900,000 euros. It was sold for the record price of 1.55 million euros to a European collector and is considered to be the finest page on the market. It is one of the most important post-war drawings from the 62 pages of an album considered as mythical by many comic strip collectors and experts. Hergé holds the record for the largest sale in comic book originals. These include the double-page inside cover for Tintin albums sold in May 2014 for almost 2.6 million euros and a double page from the King Ottokar's Sceptre album sold for approximately 1.5 million euros in October 2015. But never before has a single page achieved such a sales price.
The Artcurial auction house also sold a precious collection of 20 greeting cards by Hergé worth 1.2 million euros. These, drawn in China ink and watercolours, were ordered from him in the early 1940s and are perceived to be the first sketches related to the adventures of the famous reporter. They show Tintin and his faithful snowy enjoying the mountain, tobogganing and skiing and decorating a Christmas tree and the famous hapless detectives, the Thompson twins, skiing or ice skating.
While Artcurial presents Tintin enjoying the pleasures of weightlessness, Christie's auction house in Paris was also selling another page from 'Explorers on the Moon' on the same day; this one depicting the rocket's return to Earth, paying special attention to the emergency cars on the ground. Christie's will also be selling a page from 'Le Thermozéro', an incomplete album, as well as an original illustration for the production of a calendar portraying twelve characters.