1941 Disney "Night Before Christmas" Watercolor
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GUEST:
This is a painting from my childhood. It was always hanging in our house when, as I was growing up as a kid. My grandfather was the art director for "McCall's" magazine, so he got to meet a lot of different artists and work with a lot of different studios. And the story is that he did some work with the Disney studio, and in return, he got this painting.
APPRAISER:
And they just gave it to him?
GUEST:
As far as I know, yes.
APPRAISER:
And now it's yours, so you've had it how many years, now?
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, almost 50.
APPRAISER:
When I first saw this, I thought it was a print, and I was trying to figure out what the story was, because it's absolutely awesome, but looking more closely, I realize it is a painting. It's watercolor, gouache kind of painting, and it's absolutely extraordinary. We found this printed in "McCall's."
GUEST:
Oh, you did?
APPRAISER:
It was printed in a "McCall's" in 1941.
GUEST:
Oh, cool. Okay.
APPRAISER:
So that's what really got me excited, also, but what's really interesting, I think some of these characters were still in production phases, because I'm not sure all of these characters came out in movies before 1941.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
You have everything from the dancing ostriches and hippos from "Fantasia."
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, yeah.
APPRAISER:
The three pigs from "Big Bad Wolf" cartoons, which is one of their first. You have Ferdinand. He was the stork that brought Dumbo to his mother.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And of course, Timothy Mouse was the one who gave the feather to Dumbo so he could fly. Even the Reluctant Dragon, I mean... Some of these characters are very obscure, and of course, we've got Bambi. It's just absolutely amazing that all these characters are in this. The fact that it was printed in a magazine, the fact that we can absolutely date it to 1941, just helps a lot in terms of the value when you see something like this. Some people would say, "Who's the artist?" He didn't like to publicize his artists. He kept them off working, and it was all Disney.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
It's one of a kind. It's just totally extraordinary. As far as value, we think a reasonable auction estimate would be in the $6,000 to $8,000 range.
GUEST:
(laughing) Wow.
APPRAISER:
And that might be conservative.
GUEST:
Wow.
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