The original painting that became the cover of the first edition of harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone It was sold this Wednesday for 1.9 million dollars (about 1.7 million euros). With this price, the watercolor broke the sales record for a piece related to the magical universe of Harry Potter.
Sotheby’s in New York, which was responsible for the auction, had valued the painting individually at between 400 and 600 thousand dollars (in euros, 373 and 560 thousand), which was, from the start, a record. “This is the highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on a related piece Harry Potter“explained the auctioneer, quoted by The Guardian.
The auction exceeded the house’s expectations and the bidding battle between four people lasted almost ten minutes, the newspaper reports. The identity of the buyer was not revealed.
A big red tail and a boy with black hair, round glasses and a lightning bolt-shaped scar. The piece was painted in 1997 by Thomas Taylor and became “the first visualisation of Harry and the world of magic”, describes Sotheby’s. At the time, the artist was 23 years old and this was his first paid commission: a commission from the Bloomsbury publishing house to design the cover of a children’s book.
The cover of the original edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” with a drawing by Thomas Taylor
Taylor was one of the first people to read the original manuscript of Philosopher Stonewhich would become the first step in one of the most famous children’s book series on the planet. After reading it, it took me two days to do it. painting, watercolor and charcoal.
Until now, the sales record belonged to the same book. A copy of the first edition of harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone It was sold in Dallas in 2021 for $421,000 (394,000 euros).
After the Philosopher Stone, six more books, eleven movies and five amusement parks arrived. The million-dollar business in the world of magic is nothing new. In 2016, when the amusement theme park reopened in Florida, the brand Harry Potter It was valued at 25 billion dollars (more than 23 billion euros). JK Rowling, the controversial author of the saga, became the richest author on the planet, with assets valued at almost one billion euros. The eight original films alone accumulated more than 7 billion euros at the box office.
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As for this painting, the watercolor was sold to Sotheby’s in 2001, when the first film had just been released and there were only four books in the series. At the time it was valued at £20,000 and sold for around £87,000.
More than 20 years later, the young magician’s universe continues to change; at auctions and on screen. A new auction ends on Friday, this time for a manuscript of The Tales of Beedle the Barda book outside the original collection. Bidding starts at 186 thousand euros.
Warner Bros. – which owns the rights to the on-screen wizarding universe – has already confirmed that the books will be getting a new adaptation. With no release date or cast confirmed yet, but with big names in production, Harry Potter will be coming to television for a series that will span seven seasons, one for each book.
Source: Observadora
