1940 "Fantasia" Drawings & Sketches
Watch
GUEST:
I have this incredible collection of drawings and cels and other paraphernalia from the artists Lee and Preston Blair, who worked with Disney. They worked on "Fantasia" and "Pinocchio" and "Bambi." They had a long career, as far as I know, at Disney. Lee Blair, in fact, was the last winner of the Olympic gold medal for watercolor. And we ended up with all of this because my grandfather befriended them when they were probably teenagers, in the late '20s. And they had no father, and he had no children at the time. And they just connected, and they had a lifelong friendship. And over the years, they gave my grandfather and grandmother an amazing collection of their drawings, of their work.
APPRAISER:
You brought in a tremendous collection of items, some amazing things-- like you said, cels, storyboards, preliminary art, sketches. I mean, there was so much to go through. It was very difficult to choose just a few pieces.
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
And I chose what I thought were kind of wonderfully representational of the art leading up to "Fantasia." All four of these pieces were done by Preston Blair. We've got a photo of a storyboard sketch over here. And this is one of the storyboards they used for prepping the shots and trying different designs. They'd take photos of it so they could draw on it and take notes on it without damaging things at all.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And this is my favorite. This one is absolutely beautiful.
GUEST:
Mine, too.
APPRAISER:
Tremendous color of one of the dancing hippos. It's done in crayon, colored pencil, and it is just a tremendously beautiful piece, a riot of color, drawn on the right animation paper. It's absolutely spectacular. And we go down here, and it's a beautiful preliminary sketch. It's got a few shapes and blocking, just to get the vision of what they wanted to make Fantasia into.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And over here is actually one of the sketches that they'd use for the ink and paint department to draw the actual cels on.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So it's a great sequence showing the evolution of the design. The sequence from Fantasia, this was called "The Dance of the Hours." It had hippos dancing with alligators and ostriches, all dancing to La Giaconda. And it was a great, great ballet, tremendous music. And it is one of the most memorable pieces. Preston Blair left Disney in 1941, just after Fantasia was produced.
GUEST:
Oh, okay. Went on to work for Hanna-Barbera and Walter Lantz and the other companies.
APPRAISER:
Now, these do sell very well at auction. And I imagine these aren't things you're necessarily going to part with, because they're very much a part of your family. But I'm going to give you an auction estimate for each piece.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So because this is a photograph, but it was used in the production, it's got the notes on the bottom for the sequence and which unit worked on it, at auction that would sell for around $300 to $500.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, okay.
APPRAISER:
My favorite... just look at her. Just a wonderful smile, the little flittering lashes. As a preliminary sketch, that would sell for around $5,000 to $8,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Oh, my God. Mm-hmm. Wow, wow.
APPRAISER:
And this one over here, the blocking... Uh-huh. ...again, $5,000 to $8,000, too.
GUEST:
Geez. Wow.
APPRAISER:
And this one, being used for the actual production of it, $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Wow. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
And then I just think about how much more we have, you know? You probably have a lot of things there, between those wonderful Jiminy Cricket sketches, you had Bambi and his girlfriend in there, tremendous. An auction value for that portion of the animation art, I would expect to see between $75,000 and $100,000.
GUEST:
Wow. Wow. I wasn't expecting that.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
