Cover of Tintin skit to go under hammer
The cover of a Tintin story that satirised Hitler’s expansionism could go for more than $395,000 when it comes up for auction in Paris on Saturday.
In King Ottakar’s Sceptre, the detective’s Belgian creator Herge was taking a dig at the Nazi leader after his annexation of Austria in 1938.
Tintin and his faithful hound Snowy find themselves trying to foil a plot by spies to overthrow the king of the fictional Balkan land of Syldavia.
The story was first published in the children’s supplement of the conservative Brussels newspaper Le Petit Vingtieme.
The cover shows Tintin tripping as he gets out of the plane in Prague and having to grab his new friend Professor Alembick’s beard.
The drawing is part of a major sale of classic cartoon images at Artcurial auction house in the French capital, which was postponed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Also going under the hammer is a painting of Asterix and Obelix by their creator Albert Uderzo for a 1966 colouring book, which is expected to sell for up to $28,200.
Among the biggest bids at the coming auction is a 1954 ink drawing called Le pirogue (The Dugout Canoe) of the Marsupilami, the fictional South American animal invented by the legendary Belgian artist Andre Franquin.