Cel of the Robber Kitten (aka Butch the Bandit, aka Ambrose Kitten and Dirty Bill from Kootie Hill from The Robber Kitten, 1935

Collecting Disney Cels, Part 1

Like many other animation collectors, I began by buying a cel. In my case it was a cel of Peter Pan wearing an Indian headdress from the scene where he dances with Tiger Lilly. I had first seen the movie when I was only three years old, when Peter Pan was first re-released in 1958. But I didn't buy the cel due to nostalgic considerations; I bought it because I liked the shade of green worn by the character! In fact, after I began collecting comic books in late 1963, I had no interest in anything Disney and resisted my mother's suggestions that I buy Disney comics instead of those with super-heroes. But by the late 1970s, I was finally old enough to go crazy over Disney animation art. Eventually I would end up with 15 cels of Peter Pan at one time, similar numbers of Tramp cels, etc. The most Disney cels from 1950s features that I owned at my peak was about 250. But I began collecting watercolors by a ninteenth century English artist at about the same time. When it seemed that I was unable to win at the London watercolor auctions after some initial success, I shifted my collecting focus to animation art. This resulted in my not bidding on the companion set of watercolors by my favorite artist which have been my number one collecting desire for nearly 40 years now, but I did form a great animation collection in the 1980s until the early 2000s. When I finally realized that I could succeed in London by having a prominent English watercolor dealer bid on my behalf (starting in 1986), I still collected both types of art for many years. But as the watercolors became more expensive and when I began to collect comic strip originals, I increasingly sacrificed animation art to come up with money for watercolors and strips. And that is why I now only have some of the highlights of my once great animation collection, along with cels which have always been among my very favorites.

Animation art had been collected for a few years before I began, but the great opportunities to buy cels started close in time to my first purchases. I jumped in with both feet and paid attention to all clues which might help me find the ultimate sources for animation art, i.e., those from which the dealers bought their inventories. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Continued...