Achieving high prices at auction usually indicates many value-related factors have come together at once. “The media might report that a cel sold for $25,000,” Tumbusch says, “when in fact the sale was comprised of a cel from a prominent animator’s key drawing with a unique matching, original painted pan background. If the same cel sold alone, the price would be more like $3,000.”
Today, overall economic trends as well as industry changes among studios and distributors have contributed to a dwindling supply of high-caliber collectible animation. That, combined with collector demand for vintage Disney animation, has spurred a plethora of mass-produced fakes. Collectors must be smart about how they select their pieces and their dealer. “Find reliable purchase sources and seek appraisals from experienced animation art dealers,” Bailey stresses. Martin recalls an incident several years ago involving a group selling Pinocchio cels. “They hyped them as ‘only investment,’” she says. “It turned out that the art was from a film entitled Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, which was not a Disney film. People spent thousands of dollars on the cels, and when they tried to sell them they discovered they were only worth one or two dollars.”
The advent of online auctions has created another avenue for fraud. Auction buyers should employ an escrow service, where funds can be held until the work is authenticated. “Have the paint on the piece tested,” Tumbusch advises. “Disney paints were all custom-made by the studio and can be positively identified by spectrographic analysis.”
Many outstanding cels were never sold commercially and have no identifying labels or seals. Experienced dealers know how to identify them. “Most dealers have good connections with former animators and will have access to pieces that may never go up for sale [to the public],” Tumbusch adds.
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