i have just started collecting animation art i have only bought the ones i like but i think i have made a mistake (so please give your opitions) i now have 5 disney sericels and i paid 100.00 to 250.00 a piece for them but i have just learned that they dont go up in value that most resell for much less than the origanal purchase price (if you want to sell them) but not only do i want to like what i am collecting but i also want to know it is an investment and not a waste of my money (because i could buy a 20.00 for a poster with the same picture on it as my sericels and i would still like the picture just as much but would have saved a nice little hunk of change) however i want to be able to give this collection to my kids one day and have them appreciate what i have i collected over the years i dont want them to one day say "mom always did WASTE her money on these WORTHLESS pictures" so i am wondering if i should sell them (even though i do really like them) and try to collect origanal art instead (but origanal art seems to be so high in price that i may spend my whole life working on collecting it and only end up with 1 or 2 pieces) please give your opitions
In my opinion, the sericels are a scam.
Having spoken with numerous retailers that used to sell these things--you don't see them all that much anymore--I was routinely met with silence upon asking the question: "were these actually used in the cartoon?".
About a half dozen times I was shamelessly told yes, whereupon I told the retailers in question that I was an animator and that they were ........ahem, misinformed.
One fellow took such umbrage he threw me out of his store.
The scam is in the notion that these thing appreciate.
They are like prints--there's very little way to confirm that these "cels" have been run off in the numbers claimed, or that the run is the ONLY run in the series.
Thus their value as an "investment" is purely arbitrary.
I knew of a local fellow that once did some work on a popular cartoon series, that was making his own xeroxes on cels, painting them from behind, and offering them up as authentic items. They were confirmed as fakes when a colleague of mine who also worked on the show called the studio in question to check on the stuff. The "cels" that were being sold were apparently still in their posession--the person in question was using some pilfered inbetween drawings they had kept as guides to create the cels.
Unfortunately for the thrifty, the only way to have a piece of animation art that WILL appreciate is to buy an actual piece of art used in an actual production. This means not only paying for the piece itself, but paying for the authentication process to confirm its origins.
As above, its still fairly easy for even the modestly skilled to create "fake" production cels. The means to create the forgeries are not that expensive to accquire and selling just one can recoup the expense.
Its a wonder its not been perpetrated more often--but maybe it has and its not widely reported.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
There's no guarantee that even an original cel will appreciate in value. Yes, the odds are better, depending on the market demand, but saying it WILL appreciate is overstating reality a bit. Animation art collecting isn't the burgeoning business it once was, and no one can predict what the future holds even for animation cels. Or, to put it another way, at one time there were Beanie Babies that were going for thousands of dollars. Think they still are?
Like I said before, buy what you like for what you're comfortable paying. If you can sell it for more later, that's a bonus.
I have 4 sericels but have never felt ripped-off because I knew exactly what I was buying (basically a print on acetate) and didn't pay much and people who come in my house and ask, I qualify it immediately. I bought them becasue I usually like the reproduction of the scene.
If they do go up in the secondary market for my kids or grandkids, then bonus...but that is not why I bought them.
As far as post acetate cel Disney ; afaik they would make hand-painted souvneir cels for the "cast members" after each production.
When you consider orignal cels are much more, what you paid for the lot (250 is little steep imo, 100 cheaper) is not bad for prints, you couldn't get an old original for that price. The only thing sad is if it were misrepresented as a production cel or you didn't know the right qs to ask.
And Beware of those cartoon galleries in malls etc. Everyone I've ever met from one of those without exception knows absolutely nothing aboiut animation. Personal collectors seem more knowledgable.
well i do really like the sericels that i have purchased i picked them because i liked the scene, and one of them is very special to me because it was a birthday gift from my husband (fishing for a kiss- figaro and cleo from pinocchio)
i suppose all i can do in terms of value of these pieces is hope for the best (because i do like owning them and i cant afford origanals) but i do still feel a little bit ripped off because the prices that these sericels sell for still seems high for them to be reprints and low chance of increasing in value-------------------i remember the first one i bought and i bought it from the disney store and i WAS told that these sericel are highly collectable and that i was making a good choice buy starting a collection of them (can you say SUCKER)
No, no,no...You are not a sucker.
No one can promise anything will go up and become collectible BUT no one can say it will never go up either (Last I heard, amatuer paint by numbers from the 50s and 60s are hot.. )The point is, you like it. I only have 2 originals (from things I didn't work on) on my wall. They mean something becasue they were just given to me. It means something to me becasue I can see the artist's original work and it reminds of the giver and story surrounding the gift.
In my books a qulity print that recreates a scene in a golden age movie like pinnochio is somewhat of a service. Not many people could afford such a cel setup if they found one. That's my justification to myself.
The only issue is an ethical one. If you are lied to by the sales person.
As an heirloom, I knpw the affects of my parents (they're getting "up there")that mean soemthing to me are not becasue of monetary value but by their connection to them. If you are happy with the prints, those prints may one day remind them of you. Don't beat yourself up.
One day I will buy original production stuff. I will focus on animation drawings. They aren't as pretty and therefore don't fetch as much as cels, but are the artists at their rawest.
I'm gonna second the "not a sucker" statement. You have art you like - that's what matters. When you go to collect your next piece, if you think the price is too high than just walk on by.
And here's a "you never know what you may run across" anecdote. My brother called me a while back. His friend's mother had died, and among her things he found some Mickey Mouse cels she bought 30 years ago at Disneyland for a few bucks each. He wanted to know if they might be valuable. He described the cels thus: "Mickey's wearing a long coat with brass buttons and a Union army-looking cap. Do you know which film that's from?" Gulp - yes. "The Band Concert", Mickey's first color cartoon. Original cels, stored for years in a box in someone's closet. He asked if they might be valuable. I asked if I could buy them from his friend - perhaps a little too quickly. I had to fess up about their origins, and I hear he made a pretty penny on them. I felt a bit bad about trying to get them on the cheap, but since I didn't, I let the feeling pass...
I heard they had cels literally by the barrel at the old disneyland. I heard they were free to very cheap. Quick! WHere's the keys to my time machine?
thanks for all the uplifting thoughts (wish i could have gotten those origanal Mickey cels ) (WOW) IM still in shock!
well the fact of the matter is, is that yall are right i should not feel ripped off because i do VERY MUCH like the sericels that i have i enjoy looking at them daily and even though they are not origanals i still respect and appreciate the artist or artists that did origanaly make them because not everyone can do what they do ( i cant , sure wish i could ) and its wild to think how much happiness that, that those artists have brought to so many people and even to own a reprint i should feel proud (because i dont think that many people are aware of the amount of talent that it took to make the origanal art work and that my reprint is a reminder of that talent) and some people may not even be able to afford a reprint so after a little soul searching i do feel lucky because not too many things bring me as happiness as do my sericels
In the book The Marketing Game, one of the guys who used to work for Disney actually relays a story about that very decision. They had bucketloads of cels and they couldn't -give- them away. After all, the work to make them had already been done, so their costs were already accounted for from producing the film. Then they upped the price and suddenly it became more profitable as they had a thousand-percent markup and people were fighting for it because they were no longer as accessible. I'll check later tonight and see why he says they did it, or how they noticed a change was to be made.
Well I think they are kinda of a joke because every disney film after little mermaid has been computer painted and didn't use cels. However disney still makes "original cels" of these films to sell at insane prices to people who don't know any better. Hope you didn't buy any of the newer films. Otherwise I think actual production artwork is WAY cool and would be collecting it myself if I could afford it. Larry Lauria has quite an impressive collection! :)
www.MattOrnstein.com
Character Animator - Lucas Arts
I don't think it's a waste. I would rather have my Speechless. the way it is rather than in poster form. I also have that group one with dozens of Looney Tunes all in a single shot. Even if they were worth four bucks I'd enjoy having them around because of the -emotional- investment. I could care less what anyone else thinks, especially if I just have two of them. I could see me getting weird glances if I bought a cel a week...but I have two really choice ones.
I say collect what you enjoy.
But on a side note I have some original work I'll sell you...just joking.
Pat
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
The rule when collecting art is buy what you like for what you're comfortable paying. Whether it appreciates in value or not is a secondary consideration. If you're happy with what you bought in the form you bought it in, then that's what matters.
Whether or not your kids will appreciate your collection when you're gone is completely out of your control, and shouldn't figure into your decision at all.
I am with Phacker and DSB, buy it because you like it. I only buy the thing that I would enjoy because I know that the resell value is only a buck... if not less.
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