The Cels of Lady and Scamp which Actually Belong on Christmas Background, 1955

I bought these matching cels in December 1980. They are the actual cels that were photographed against the background with the Christmas Tree, which now has cels of Lady, Tramp, and their puppies over it. I did not find the matching background until 26 years after I bought the Lady carrying Scamp cels. While I could have the non-matching cel removed and reunite the cels with their actual background, I think that the non-matching cels, which were created by the studio to be used against the background as part of a publicity set-up, actually look better as part of the Christmas scene.

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THE BASMAJIAN AUCTION, cont.

Moreover, by waiting so long to sue after learning of Christie's intention to hold the auction, Disney had allowed the auction house to invest a great deal of money to produce a catalogue and promote the auction, all of which would be rendered worthless if the sale was enjoined at such a late date. Therefore the court invoked the doctrine of laches, the equivalent of civil statutes of limitations in cases seeking equitable relief, to deny relief to Disney. The court issued a written ruling, and Disney signed a written agreement to never go after any purchser at the sale in any attempt to challenge their right to possess the artworks they bought. I have copies of both documents. And, in fact, Disney, unlike a few other studios, has never again gone after any art produced by the studio before the 1980s. [For a short time the studio objected to the sale of drawings from The Little Meremaid and later features, which they could prove were never legally removed from the studio, but, as far as I know, they abandoned this practice a long time ago.]

Since I wanted to buy the first lot in the Basmajian sale, I arrived especially early at Christie's East. I was second in line to register for bidding, right behind Carl Harper. We talked at length while waiting and sat across an aisle from each other in the back of the salesroom. I won the first lot, one of the backgrounds from the Robber Kitten, as well as the other two from the cartoon. I also bought the better of two backgrounds from Musicland in the sale, a cel and background setup from the Tortoise and the hare, and a background showing Geppeto's candlestick holder from Pinocchio. Something I already knew about bidding was confirmed during the bidding on the latter. Some people bid at auction by putting their hand or paddle up and keeping it in the air until they either win or give up. This may ensure that the auctioneer keeps checking on you and doesn't miss one of your bids, and, perhaps it psyches out others by showing your determination to win. A collector from Cleveland did this while bidding against me on the candle holder background. I had decided that I would bid up to $3,000, and the auctioneer recognized my bid at $2,800. Since I was on the wrong bidding foot, the other guy, with his paddle still in the air, got the $3,000 bid. But he then finally put his paddle down, showing that he had hit his maximum. So I bid again, winning the background for $3,200. Had the other bidder just put his paddle up each time he wanted to bid, I would have assumed that he would continue bidding above $3,000 , cursed my luck that he got the $3,000 bid, and given up. But he showed me that he was done bidding and that I could have the piece, without further competition, with one more bid of my own. Never give such an advantage to your competition by using such a poorly conceived bidding practice.

I was extremely satisfied with what I bought at this historic sale. The next day I had lunch with Betty Krulick of Christie's, who had been in charge of the sale. She told me that, although the auction had taken in much more than anyone could have anticipated, greatly exceeding estimates and setting record prices for animation art, that had not satisfied the Basmajians. Christie's outside counsel had charged $35,000 for defending against Disney's lawsuit and defeating their attempts to stop the sale. Since Christie's consignment contract allowed for the deduction of legal expenses incurred by the auction house due to questions about any sellers title to consigned goods, Christie's had deducted the lawyer's bill from the Basmajian's share of the auction proceeds. But the Basmajian's felt so cheated that they went to the competition, Sotheby's, the next time they decided to sell a few things. The bottom line was that Christie's lawyer made a lot for a few days of work, and Christie's made much more than they ever dreamed they would from the first big sale of Mickey Mouse pictures. Due to all the publicity generated by this new collecting mania, Christie's dominated the animation art market as it soared over the following decade. I was happy that I got what I went to New York to buy. Continued...