Brief Update

I haven't updated this blog for a little while.

That would be because I haven't had the finances to acquire any pieces of artwork (at least any decent pieces) and I don't want to make this blog about pieces that I have nothing to do with, though the occasional post won't hurt. During this time of personal economic struggle I've watched cels go at very reasonable prices:

A fully framed cel of Sebastian, with excellent expression, framed by none other that Leslie Combemale herself (you can tell by the distinct gold seashell framing, which Leslie confirmed was her own work) sold for less than $500 on eBay.

A cel of Ariel in her wedding gown sold for $1200. If only they had posted it up two weeks later, I could have afforded it. The problem with eBay is that you need to have the finances wrapped up virtually immediately, whereas a private sale allows for a bit more flexibility and negotiation.

But my woes are set to temporarily abate as I acquire a new piece from ArtInsights . Thanks to a little negotiation and very kind saleswoman (thank you Leslie!) I am on my way to acquiring my fifteenth piece! I will create a separate post for it once I have finished paying it off, which should be within the next month.

And of course I continue to scour eBay, which always has the greatest influx of Little Mermaid cels. There are a couple on there (with seals, of course) right now that are reasonably priced:

- Ariel and Flounder
- Ariel, Flounder and Shark

There was a third of Sebastian, but he sold just yesterday. None are bargains, but this seller seems to know the market price of these cels and isn't asking too much for them, unlike some other cels which are priced well outside their value. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the more expensive ones have been up there for a while.

There are also some without seals. They seem to think that the cel's authenticity and legality are assured by either supplying a generic COA with the piece (COAs from Disney without individual details written on them can be moved between pieces), saying that the COA has been "lost" (i.e. never existed because the piece was stolen) and never mentioning a seal, or having the cel autographed by Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel).

In all three cases the approach doesn't make up for a lack of seal of authenticity, which is stamped directly onto the artwork and not transferable to another piece. This is unless the seal is on the uppermost cel of a multi-cel setup, which may be a cel of bubbles that can sneakily be transferred to a similar setup; you're going to want to make sure that the cel of bubbles at least fits in with the scene. There are plenty of legitimate non-key cel setups like this, but if the cel of bubbles doesn't at least match the sequence, there are a few questions you need to be asking...

Then there is this cel setup:
- Ursula and Polyps

This cel setup has no visible seal but it's legitimacy is assured due to its provenance: it was catalogued and sold at Sotheby's The Little Mermaid auction in 1990. I have a copy of the catalogue and it's in there! It comes with it's matching, one-of-a-kind, watercolour,  horizontal-pan background, making this a master key setup, which is pretty awesome (and, of course, drastically increases the value of the piece)! It comes with the Sotheby COA, making this a genuinely rare collectible. The seller has reduced the price recently from the original $8500 asking price to $6400, so I can't imagine this cel will remain available for much longer.