What is Disney animation art?

A large and active market exists for original Disney animation art. Prices vary widely, from a few dollars for a common print, to tens of thousands of dollars for early original production cels with hand-painted master backgrounds. A wide variety of offerings can be found on auction sites such as eBay and at major auction houses like Heritage Galleries and Profiles in History. But, what are the relative values of lithographs, sericels, serigraphs, production cels, and common prints? Which is more valuable typically, a sericel or a serigraph? How can one tell whether they have an original production cel or merely a sericel?

GOLD LABEL PRODUCTION CELS

Starting around the year 1955, and continuing until sometime around 1966, Disneyland had a shop called ART CORNER where they sold, among other things, original Disney production cels. In the hobby, these are known as GOLD LABEL production cels, because on the back of each one a gold sticker can be found that reads, 'THIS IS AN ORIGINAL HANDPAINTED CELLULOID DRAWING ACTUALLY USED IN A WALT DISNEY PRODUCTION. Released exclusively by DISNEYLAND, 1313 Harbor Blvd, Anaheim California. Copyright Walt Disney Productions.' The text on the label may have slight variations over the years, but the label text is almost always printed in red ink on a gold label. Many of these authentic production cels make reference to the Disneyland Art Corner, as in 'RELEASED EXCLUSIVELY BY THE ART CORNER OF DISNEYLAND'.

SERIGRAPH CELS

These cels are very desirable in the marketplace, and can have a value ranging from a low of one hundred dollars or so, and up to thousands of dollars, depending on the scene, the quality, and the desirability of the film and characters in the cel. A hand painted Master Background as part of the piece also adds value.

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