"The Sea Witch...?"

I bought this one on eBay not too long after the Ursula cels. Although not a have-to-have shot, I do love the clear expression and sizeable shot in this cel. Although I have actually seen better cels from this sequence (some extend all the way to her tail, which is also painted), this one is significant in that it is the only cel from this sequence that I have seen that has a seal. For a collector who collects only legitimate cels, that made this cel much more significant. Often when I find cels without seals from a sequence, I find several cels from that sequence, all without seals. That makes it harder to get ones with seals.

This cel was sold on eBay as an auction. Unlike my Ursula cel this one attracted a few more bids and I was a little more worried that I wouldn't get it (ah, the rush of sniping on eBay). In total it had six bid, including mine, and the final price was $US968.79. It comes with a photographic background which does not match the scene, and a couple of images with alternate presentations, this one included, were also on the listing. I fell this presentation format, a white background which emphasises the image clearly, is best. It's unframed so I can have it arranged that way when I get around to framing.

This piece cost $US968.79. Photographic background (or not :P). Unframed. The authentication seal is in the bottom-rightcorner.

"A Thing for This Human"

Hot on the heels of my first Ursula cel came my second. This one I bought on eBay. Although it was a bidding auction I was the only bidder. I fail to see why; it has and excellent expression. Ursula is not too big in this cel; she only takes up about half the cel real-estate. Nevertheless, the face has clear expression, the posture and mannerisms that are iconic of Ursula are present and you can even see the beginning of her tentacles!

This piece cost $US895.00. Photographic background. Framed in black. The authentication seal is in the bottom-rightcorner.

"Practically Starving!"

Leslie Combemale does it again! This fabulous depiction of Ursula, including a gratuitous shot of her colossal behind, came from ACME (who are apparently running very low on LM cels at the moment).

The strangely truncated image is due to editing of a slightly poorer shot to bring the image into proper proportion. Hey, it's hard taking a picture of a cel with good lighting and at the right angle on an iPhone!

This piece cost $800. Photographic background. Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is in the bottom right corner.

"Walking Around On Those..."

I got this piece from eBay a few months ago. It was difficult because I am registered in Australia and the seller had closed their listings off to those outside the USA. Because of this I missed out on another cel he was selling. Fortunately this one didn't sell the first time and I conviced him to repost it. I then changed my geographical location to USA so that I could actually bid on it. They shouldn't make it this difficult to bid on this sort of thing; I was going to have it sent to a friend in the USA anyway!

This came already nicely framed and I think it's a beautiful frame from this sequence. At the time of writing, a similar cel is available from celmates.com for US$4250. This one was only $US1,295 and I think this one is better given her expression, which gives me the opinion that CelMates is a bit overpriced (or I'm a really good bargain hunter)!

This piece cost $US1,295. Photographic background. Framed in black. The authentication seal is in the bottom-left corner.

Update and Cel Stalking

Well, it's been a little while since I updated, partly because since becoming unemployed I have had limited funding for purchasing cels. Just as my last employer let me go, however, I had scraped up enough to buy one more piece, which I will upload when I find the good shot that I have lying around in my archives.

Lack of cash doesn't stop me from watching cels pass by though. Several auctions have popped up over the last few months on eBay and have subsequently been sold. Fortunately no "Have-To-Have" cels sold at ridiculously low prices but outside my grasp; none that I'm aware of anyway. Shots like Sebastian jumping and singing and his face is contorted, as such:

Keep in mind here that the clam wasn't included in the shot, so the setup was rather empty.

Another one that went was one of Ariel and Sebastian:

I don't think the cel setup was a key-setup (all cels belong to the same frame in the movie).

So as you can see, not much being missed out on in the bargain bin.

On the higher end (around the US$5000 mark) however, someone has been buying up some choice cels. A cel of Ariel and Eric waving from their wedding ship, which had been on eBay on-and-off for over a year finally sold. At the same time a cel of Ariel and Eric's first kiss sold to the same buyer. And also at the same time, several cels in this price range sold at CelMates. I'm suspecting that it's the same guy <Insert Shifty Eye Glance Here>. These were really good cel setups, even if they cost twice as much as any of those in my collection. Maybe it is getting harder to get these cels. Every time a cel changes hands, there is the chance that the new owner (like me) has no intention of letting it go again. So eventually, cels are going to become scarcer and more expensive.

Another interesting lot of sales that dangle around the bargain bin (to clarify, <US$1000) were actually "Buy-It-Now or Best-Offer" items on eBay. Taking a look at the Buy-It-Now price alone puts them in the lower-mid-range price bracket (US$1500 - US$3500). However, a seller (representing animationandfineart.com) who had several pieces up in this range caved in for lower offers. A really nice cel of Sebastian poking out his lips, which had been listed for US$2250 sold for only US$750. I wish I had made an offer!

Another shot of Ariel, Eric and Grimsby (made not-so-desirable as Eric was heavily obscured by Grimsby) was originally listed for US$3300 (I'm guessing the seller was placing a lot of value in the presence of each character) but sold for only (if I remember correctly) US$1300. Probably still not quite worth it, if you're into perfection (if you're just in it for Ariel alone, or even Grimsby, then by all means). Nevertheless, a huge reduction in asking price across the board.

They've all been sold, according to the Animation and Fine Art website. At the time of writing this post, you can see the prices they were originally asking for in their listings http://www.animationandfineart.com/Animation/Disney.html. I think the one of Ariel and Eric at sunset sold for it's asking price, but the rest went waaaay down (according to eBay).


Leslie from ArtInsights has recently told me about a vertiable fire sale at the ACME Archives: they recently sold a number of pieces at the bargain price of US$800 each. I haven't seen what these pieces were, but they sold fast. I was told there were a couple of Ursula, a couple of Folsom and Jetsam and one of Ariel at the puppet show. Maybe they'll turn up some more. I have a little funding stored up for just the right bargain, so here's hoping!

"Wedding Announcement"

This piece came from eBay as a Buy-It-Now. Slightly less spectacular than some of my other pieces, but it's still a great shot of the main character without too much distortion from mid-movement and a decent display of emotion. This appears after Ariel hears of the wedding and is about to rush downstairs to find Eric. Before she does, she turns and scoops up Sebastian and kisses him. This cel is when she is in transition from the former to the latter.

 

This was the first cel I bought that did NOT come with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA), but it DOES have a seal (trimmed image doesn't show it, but it's there). The seal is the most important. From what I have gathered, the COA isn't as important because it can be transferred to other pieces; a seal is branded onto the piece.

The real kicker is that this cel only cost me $60; my cheapest acquisition to date! The main problem was that the seller wasn't doing international shipping by default, and I had to POUNCE on this fast! So I had the cel sent to Leslie, who was quite happy to receive it, and rather surprised by the price too. The cel wasn't in an ACME envelope, and although all the pieces being sold by the seller came in the same cling-wrap-like packaging, Leslie couldn't find anything remarkable about the presentation to discern anything about the cel's past.

The seller was also selling two other pieces from this movie: one was a cel of Eric and Max dancing on the ship, and one was of the entire Under The Sea ensemble with the lobstering at the front, facing the fourth wall, claws up.

The first cel I didn't like, even though it was only $50, because Eric was in mid-motion and his hair was swooped over most of his face so that he looked kind of emo. The second cel, which was $60, I missed out on to someone else (don't know why they didn't buy this one too) who re-posted it on eBay two weeks later for $350.

That's still pretty cheap, but I'm not interested in giving someone a $290 payoff because they can hit the Buy-It-Now button faster. Naturally, some schmuck bought it and is probably happy with it. At that price, there's no reason not to, unless you know how the guy got it, how much he paid for it and you don't believe he deserves the money.

The reason these cels were being sold so cheaply was that they were being sold by someone who really didn't know their worth. From what I could gather, he was selling them for a friend who had divorced her husband. The cels were his but they seem to have been given to her in the settlement, and she was trying to get what she could for them. I hate to dance on someones marriage wreck, but it worked out good for me!

This piece cost $60. Photographic background. Unframed in plastic wrapping. The authentication seal is in the corner.

"First Sight"

Before I saw this piece, I knew I wanted at least one cel from this shot. This appeared on eBay in late 2010 and I spent ages deciding whether to get it. I hesitated not because I didn't think it was a great shot, but because it wasn't the perfect shot. In this shot, Ariel transitions (or "melts") from shock at having seen Eric for the first time to a completely adoring expression.

The reason this shot is technically not "perfect" is because the final shot of her transition is different from the others. While there are about 12 frames showing almost identical expressions to this one, the final piece has her face in full transition, with her pupils dilated, her smile fully formed and her eyebrows properly set. It's also probably the longest cel shown in the whole film, as the lack of character movement is compensated for by zooming in on Ariel.

Still, I loved this piece for its own merits (it's soooo lovely!) and decided to get it. If that other piece surfaces, I can get that one too! This one is itself distinct in the film. On her right hand there is a little ink missing from the line between her middle fingers. That isn't something that has happened since the film, it can also be seen in the movie. None of the other cels around it have this mark, so you can easily see it as the frame ticks by.

The person who sold this to me assured me that I was getting a good deal for it, and that he paid well over $3000 for it. For the price I bought it from him for, I think I paid slightly on the steeper side, as many cels like this have been sold in recent years for between $1000 and $2000. The reason he paid so much for it was that he bought it from a Chuck Jones Gallery, who are notorious for overpricing. Considering he bought it eight years ago, when cels from this movie were nowhere near their highest in popularity, I'd say he definitely paid too much. Then again, each piece is one-of-a-kind, so it's hard to place a set price on this sort of thing in the first place.

This piece cost $2000. Photographic background. Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is in the bottom right corner.