Aladdin
Released: November 11, 1992
Starting with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in 1990, every year following the release of the latest feature animation film by Disney, Sotheby’s auction house would hold a sale of selected production pieces to the general public. These auctions became annual events for Disney animation movie fans from all around the world.
In 1993, Disney continued the tradition by selecting from Aladdin 257 producton backgrounds with special 1 of 1 cel setups created from the original animation drawings by the studio to sell at auction. With all tallies in from the sale, the auction netted $1.4 million with the top lot selling at $25,300. Unfortunately for me, I did not know the animation auction scene existed until a friend piqued my interest in 1995 when Lion King was released during the height of what was Disney’s 2nd golden age of animation. Back in the day I had a very limited budget and knowledge of the process and when I tried for a piece from the Lion King I was outbid 2 to 1 on every piece. Later I learned that Lion King set a new sales record for an animation auction with proceeds of almost $2 million. The record still stands to this day.
So as time went by I studied up on the auction scene by researching past sales catalogs to better understand the contemporary animation art market. Coming into collecting post Lion King, I missed all of the animation sales from Roger Rabbit, Little Mermaid, Beauty through Aladdin. So all I could do at this point was wait, hope and network with other collectors to find pieces from these films.
Contemporary art is much scarcer than vintage due to the use of computers and its limited release by the Disney studio. Today, contemporary art very rarely comes up for sale and when the choice pieces do, they tend to be record setting. The only known Genie cel setup to come up for auction was right after the Mulan sale in 1998 and the piece sold for $81,000.
Original Key Master, gouache on board and celluloid,
Artist: Studio, unknown
Acquired: December 4, 2008
As luck would have it, I just happened to be reviewing the Aladdin auction catalog and in particular lot 114. Thinking to myself how wonderful it would be to have a piece as nice as this, I dreamt a little longer before going to the internet that next minute to see what Chrisitie’s might have for sale. Much to my surprise, this lot was up for auction in London just three weeks later and about a month after that it was hanging on my wall. No, I did not pay anywhere close to $81,000 for this piece.
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