Monday 6 February 2023

ORIGINAL ART: The Spanish Lady (K125)

The story Frank Bellamy illustrated for the Daily Mirror (17 March 1976 - 7 July 1976 - #K65-K160) was Garth: "The Spanish Lady"

Garth: The Spanish Lady" K125

Silver-Acre are selling another original art board. This time it's K125 of the "The Spanish Lady" which started at £6.99 and is - as of writing - at £29.

The rear of the artwork
The rear looks terribly messy but is mostly a wrapper that's been placed on it. The important thing is has the artwork suffered in any way? I suspect the wrinkles I can see on the front artwork are actually cellophane of some sort.

9 strips from this story have been sold since 2011 and the average price has been £283.15 for one strip. However another one didn't sell at auction - and it was this particular one. Anyway what does this price mean as it's based over 12 years? And this is Francis Drake warning Garth (sorry I mean "the roistering Elizabethan gallant John Carey"!) .

Autograph

Whilst talking of ebay auctions there's an unusual one there now. It's Bellamy's autograph and I have no reason to think it's not authentic. I'm guessing somebody got it back in the mid-1950s as Bellamy illustrated four strips before "Robin Hood" between 12 May 1956 and 17 August 1957 (as well as some illustrations) in Swift, the "junior" Eagle comic. I'm guessing the photo of Bellamy is for illustrative purposes. Before anyone asks, "is it worth anything?" I'd say no, not really, but there is a bid on it!.  [UPDATE: Frank Bellamy's autograph is worth £48.00 (7 bids)!]

But it certainly made me asks some questions. Did FB ever attend the Hulton's Boys and Girls Exhibitions? See Getty Images who have a photo of the 1956 Exhibition - if the creation date can be reconciled with the dates in the image! And my friend  Richard Sheaf has covered the topic well. But I suspect someone living in Kettering asked him for the autograph and Bellamy knew to give his signature some context by adding what his current assignment was.


AUCTION SUMMARY
GARTH: The Spanish Lady
WHERE?: eBay
STARTING BID: £6.99
ENDING PRICE:£240.89
No of bids: 24
END DATE: Sunday 12 February 2023

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