1959 Walt Disney Studios Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Cel
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GUEST:
It was a gift from my grandmother. She moved to California in the middle '50s. And she sent one of these cels to, one to me and one to each of my brothers. I don't know where the others are.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
This is the one I saved, it was my brother's. But...
APPRAISER:
What year was this?
GUEST:
1956, I think. And there was a Donald Duck.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And there was a Cinderella.
APPRAISER:
Um...
GUEST:
It was '56 or '59, I can't remember.
APPRAISER:
Well, it would have had to have been 1959, be...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Um, because you know what movie this is from?
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
This is from 1959's Sleeping Beauty by Walt Disney Studios. This is the character of Maleficent. When Sleeping Beauty first came out, it was an abject failure. It just didn't do well in the theaters. So this is an actual animation cel used in 1959's Sleeping Beauty by Walt Disney Studios. We also know where she bought it.
GUEST:
Where?
APPRAISER:
We know that she bought it at Disneyland. Because if you look on the back of it, behind this chipped frame and cardboard, you've got, "This is an original hand-painted celluloid drawing actually used as a Walt Disney production," et cetera, et cetera. These were actually sold at the Art Corner at Disneyland in the 1950s. And you could literally go into Disneyland on Main Street, stop in the store, and buy a cel from your favorite Disney film. This is important. If you didn't have this sticker, you wouldn't know exactly where she had purchased it from. When you're valuing cels, there's a whole range of values. It's based on the importance of the movie. The popularity of the character. How good of a scene is it? What does the art look like? Is it original background, is it a hand-painted background, or is it a printed background? Well, on this particular one, it is a printed background. It's not hand-drawn by an, a Disney artist. And it's just a great character scene. The character she was based off of was the 1950s camp icon Vampira, whose shows been, like, Plan 9 in Outer Space. It was based on that same actress. And it's just a great smiling scene for the Mistress of Evil. It's in wonderful condition. Got a little bit of wrinkling on it, which is typical of cels. That's just the way they are. The frame itself is kind of in rough shape.
GUEST:
(laughing)
APPRAISER:
It's all falling apart. I highly recommend that you get it reframed on acid-free paper, acid-free matting, to keep it preserved for the next few generations.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Maleficent, because of the recent Angelina Jolie movie, has become all sorts of popular all over again. And that's why this one has particularly high value. If this came up at auction, in this current condition, I give an auction estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
You should thank your grandmother.
GUEST:
Yes!
(both laughing)
APPRAISER:
And what would your brother say, knowing that you'd stolen this?
GUEST:
I might not tell him.
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