I bought this at auction from Heritage Auctions. The auction description reads:
Sheldon Mayer - All-New Collectors' Edition #C-53 Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer Cover Original Art (DC, 1977). Sheldon Mayer's whimsical Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer covers were a delightful DC Christmas tradition. In addition to his own title, Rudolph also appeared on some of the later covers of DC's treasury-sized titles, Limited Collectors' Edition and All-New Collectors' Edition. This Yuletide scene was drawn in ink for publication, and later hand- colored with watercolor by Mayer. The image area is 12" x 15". The paper was trimmed right to the top edge of the image, and the other borders were trimmed irregularly outside of the image area; otherwise the art is in Excellent condition. A sensational show-stopper for a Sheldon Mayer enthusiast!
You can see the original art next to the published cover in the Additional Images section below.
If your eyes are good, you can see minor discrepancies between the published cover and the artwork. A simple example is the height of the tallest package in the pack. I think it is a Sheldon Mayer watercolor over an inked drawing, but it's not quite the original art for the cover. Heritage assures me that it is from Mayer. It also has his handwritten notes to the colorist and the DC stamp on the back. I wonder how the differences occurred. Any ideas?
You can see the original art for the back cover and read how I found it
here.
Thanks for taking a look. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.
