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Valuation Wanted: Series of signed Tintin greetings cards

charleswallingford
Member
#1 · Posted: 16 Nov 2014 19:35
I have a series of 5 greetings cards sent to me each Xmas between 1971 and 1975 in response to a fan letter I sent to Hergé when I was 11. Each one has the original envelope.

I want to sell the cards, preferrably as 1 lot. Does anyone have an opinion on whether
(1) the envelopes give sufficient provenance/authentication?
(2) this is enough of a package to be worth getting specialist/auction advice, or should I just stick them on ebay.

Thanks
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 17 Nov 2014 14:29
It's likely that with the inclusion of addressed, stamped and franked envelopes you have a reasonable provenance for the cards (especially if as you say, you are the recipient on the envelope, so you didn't pick them up somewhere else), and far better than many items of memorabilia have!

Not that I personally understand why you'd want to sell such nice things (wish I'd had the sense to write to Hergé back in the day!), but you should at least consider the specialist route, at least as far as a valuation, as having looked at prices of signed cards recently in light of another enquiry, they seem to be on the rise, and if you have any designs or features which are sought-after, there may be benefits to get them assessed before sale.
charleswallingford
Member
#3 · Posted: 18 Nov 2014 11:30
Thanks, that is very helpful.

I'm selling them for the usual sordid reason. Mind you, I am more attached to the books themselves which I used to get as a Christmas present each year. In fact, I seem to remember feeling a bit let down when the result of my fan letter was just to be put on Hergé's Christmas card list, instead of getting a personal letter back - how naive I was!

Are the any particular 'specialist routes' that anyone can recommend? Or maybe I should just go to a reputable dealer (I live in London so I imagine I have easy access to that kind of person).
jock123
Moderator
#4 · Posted: 18 Nov 2014 12:02
I don't know, being on his list and being sent exclusive Tintin-themed art even once a year for five years sounds good to me, but I know what you mean about the books themselves!

The market in this country isn't that big, even in London; you might be better looking towards Paris or Brussels, which has a mature market-place and dealers with experience.

Artcurial and Piasa seem to be the two auction houses with the biggest comics-related sales, so they are worth considering - the latest Artcurial sale catalogue can be downloaded here, and it has their estimates next to lots to give you a feel for the market (these are of course just guide prices). [NB: I repeat here the warning I posted last time I linked to the catalogue - the contents may not adhere to our own "family friendly" site policy, and are probably "not safe for work"]

If you just want to go down the on-line route, Catawiki is an alternative auction site to eBay, and sometimes has Hergé/ Tintin-centred sales (I've never used it to buy or sell, so you would need to investigate further).

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