ORIGINAL ART: Heros, Thunderbirds and 3 Garth at Excalibur, oh my!

Unbelievably, just when I move house and while offline, two auction houses have Bellamy artwork for sale. So let me catch up quickly - these auctions are tomorrow (8 November-9 November). I'll do a second blog article on the Compal Auction (24 November)

Excalibur are "Collectables and Memorabilia Specialist Auctioneers" and were established in February 2016.

HEROS THE SPARTAN: Eagle 1 Dec 1962 (Vol. 13:48)

HEROS THE SPARTAN: Eagle 1 Dec 1962 (Vol. 13:48)

 It's lovely to see the colours preserved. Click on the image above (and below) and just gaze at those colours - all done in ink over a double page spread - despite Exclaibur thinking it was watercolour and ink!

You also get a copy of the comic!

Estimate: £5,000-£7,000 - the last time this sold was in March 2017 when it went for £4,332.01

Described as:

HEROS THE SPARTAN (1962) - ORIGINAL SIGNED FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK from EAGLE Comic - FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - Eagle Comic (Volume 13) Issue #48 - "Heros the Spartan" Episode 6 - SIGNED BY FRANK BELLAMY IN PANEL 13 - A fantastic colourful two-page spread (centrefold feature in the comic, page numbers 12 & 13) Painted in water colours [sic - Norman] & pelikan inks on CS10 Colyer & Southey line board - 26.25" x 18.25" - (66.5 x 46.5 cm) Image area 25" x 15.25" (63.5 x 38.5 cm) - Flat/Unfolded - Very Fine (Full Colour) In addition the buyer will receive a copy of the Eagle Comic issue number 48 (Volume3) from 1962 the artwork appeared in.

THUNDERBIRDS: TV21 #178 (Page 10)

You also get the comic (with a great Mike Noble cover!)

Estimate: £1000-£1500
Described as:

THUNDERBIRDS (1969) - ORIGINAL FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK from TV21 Comic- FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - TV21: Issue #178 - Part 6 Page 10 (of story) - "Scott and Virgil - Trapped in the Tunnel of Fire !" - A marvellous colourful piece with bright Pelikan colours & inks on board - 19.25" x 15" - (49 x 38 cm) Image area 15.5" x 12" (39.5 x 30.5 cm) - Flat/Unfolded - Very Fine (Full Colour) In addition the buyer will receive a copy of the original TV21 Comic issue number 178 (1968) the artwork appeared in.

GARTH: Bride of Jenghiz Khan (J1)

Garth: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan #J1

Interestingly we can see that J1 was pasted over the number underneath. Did John Allard lose track whilst lettering this piece?

Estimate: £200-£300 - last time this sold was in 2015 when it went for a paltry(!) £181
Described as:

GARTH (1975) - ORIGINAL SIGNED FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK from Daily Mirror - FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - Chapter J1 - SIGNED BY FRANK BELLAMY ON FIRST PANEL (Bellamy's signature is almost a piece of art in its own right) - GARTH is the long running syndicated strip featuring the adventures of the cult time-travelling hero. This is the original art used for chapter J1 and published in The Daily Mirror newspaper on 2nd January 1975 - Fantastic clean detailed pen and ink work by this hugely popular and very collectable British artist - Pen & Ink on CS10 Colyer & Southey line board - 7" x 21.5" (18 x 54.5 cm) - Flat - Very Fine

GARTH: The Spanish Lady (K77)

Garth: The Spanish Lady #K77

 In this lovely close-up we can see 'white-out' or correction fluid, which Bellamy always claimed he did not use. But it's obvious here that Allard, the letterer chose to change to the position of the balloon 'tail'. Did Bellamy get it wrong?

Estimate: £200-£300
Described as:

GARTH (1976) - ORIGINAL SIGNED FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK from Daily Mirror - FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - Chapter K77 "The Spanish Lady" - SIGNED BY FRANK BELLAMY ON SECOND PANEL (Bellamy's signature is almost a piece of art in its own right) - GARTH is the long running syndicated strip featuring the adventures of the cult time-travelling hero. This is the original art used for "The Spanish Lady" Chapter K77 and published in The Daily Mirror newspaper on 31st March 1976 - Fantastic clean detailed pen and ink work by this hugely popular and very collectable British artist - Pen & Ink on CS10 Colyer & Southey line board - 7" x 21.5" (18 x 54.5 cm) - Flat - Very Fine

GARTH: The Spanish Lady (K88)

Garth: The Spanish Lady #K88

Estimate: £200-£300

Described as:

GARTH (1976) - ORIGINAL SIGNED FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK from Daily Mirror - FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - Chapter K88 "The Spanish Lady" - SIGNED BY FRANK BELLAMY ON SECOND/THIRD PANEL (Bellamy's signature is almost a piece of art in its own right) - GARTH is the long running syndicated strip featuring the adventures of the cult time-travelling hero. This is the original art used for "The Spanish Lady" Chapter K88 and published in The Daily Mirror newspaper on 13th April 1976 - Fantastic clean detailed pen and ink work by this hugely popular and very collectable British artist - Pen & Ink on CS10 Colyer & Southey line board - 7" x 21.5" (18 x 54.5 cm) - Flat - Very Fine

AUCTION SUMMARY 
HEROS THE SPARTAN: Eagle 1 Dec 1962 (Vol. 13:48)
WHERE?: Excalibur
STARTING BID:
ENDING PRICE:£5,000
NO. OF BIDS:

END DATE: Friday8 November 2019

THUNDERBIRDS: TV21 #178 (Page 10)
WHERE?: Excalibur
STARTING BID:
ENDING PRICE:£1,500
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Friday8 November 2019

GARTH: Bride of Jenghiz Khan (J1)
WHERE?: Excalibur
STARTING BID:
ENDING PRICE:£320
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Friday8 November 2019

GARTH: The Spanish Lady (K77)
WHERE?: Excalibur
STARTING BID:
ENDING PRICE:£250
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Friday8 November 2019

GARTH: The Spanish Lady (K88)
WHERE?: Excalibur
STARTING BID:
ENDING PRICE:£350
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Friday8 November 2019

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds from TV21 #213 (Page 1)

Art for "Thunderbirds" in TV21 #213 by Frank Bellamy

What an interesting surprise! Excalibur is an auction house specializing in toys and movie merchandise and comics. Their auctions are online at The Saleroom As they say "Our next auction will be held on 6th / 7th September." and it's called "Model Railways; Movie, Music, and TV Memorabilia, Posters, Autographs, Comic Book Original Art and Comic Books" - so just about everything!

"Thunderbirds" header - compare to printed box below

"Thunderbirds" as printed in TV21 #213

The above original artwork is the first page of the story that appeared in TV21 #213 and you can see another fine example of how storing Bellamy's artwork brings dividends in terms of preserved colour. There appears to be no fading here. I remember when the TV21 comic came out at this period and the colour reproduction was nowhere near as good as when Bellamy first appeared in it in issue #52. And indeed if we compare the artwork to the comic reproduction we can see this - a sort of 'dulling' of colour with a hint that there was something lovely. Mind you the reproduction towards the end of TV21's run was worse still!


The auctioneers have shown close-ups of the artwork so I have grabbed there here for posterity.

Brains

The Hood

Scott

Excalibur describe the piece:

THUNDERBIRDS (1969) - ORIGINAL ARTWORK from TV21 Comic- FRANK BELLAMY (Artist) - TV21: Issue # 213 - Part 5 Page 1 (of story) - "Leaving Scott (Tracy) for dead in the cavern Professor Beresford peels the face mask away to reveal the Tracys' arch enemy, The Hood ..!" Also features Brains, Thunderbird 4 & Thunderbird 2 'pod' - Bright Pelikan inks on board with hand written annotations to title area - (18" x 15" - 45.75 x 38 cm) 15.5" (26.5 x 39.5 cm) Flat/Unfolded - Very Fine (Full Colour) In addition the buyer will receive a copy of the original TV21 Comic issue number 213 February 15th 2069 (1969)

The lot (#1192) auction is on Saturday 7 September 2019 at 11:00 BST (includes Lots: 1001-1655) - the day before (6 September 2019 at 14:00 BST,  Lots: 1-333 are up for auction. It previously sold for £821 ironically on 7 September 2014

Gordon and Thunderbird 4

I'll update the spreadsheet and the details below after the auction

AUCTION SUMMARY
WHERE?: Excalibur c/o TheSaleroom
STARTING BID:£900 (Auctioneer's estimate: £1,500-£2,000)
ENDING PRICE: £2,200
END DATE: Saturday 7 September 2019

ORIGINAL ART: Bob Monkhouse Estate: Thunderbirds, Garth and Dan Dare

Original art from the Bob Monkhouse collection
Thunderbirds from TV21 #105

UPDATED PRICES BELOW - Frank Bellamy record price for Thunderbirds!

I apologise for the quiet that has descended on this blog. Various life events occurred, the latest of which was my stupidity in lifting railway sleepers (used as raised beds in our garden) by myself and thus damaging my back! I'm recovering and doing my gentle exercises, but can I remind you all, be careful of your back... seriously!

Anyway better things. It's Frank Bellamy's birthday. The more I look at his artwork, the more I am amazed at how this self-taught man moved from a provincial advertising studio in Kettering to another in London before going on to a long career in comics and illustration week in, week out. His use of space in constricted newspaper strips was incredible - even to look at today and his full colour double page spreads still leave me wanting more!

In the latest (May/June 2019) Comic Book Auctions Limited  we have again some artwork released from the estate of the late Bob Monkhouse. By the way, watch him on YouTube in his final performance and remind yourselves what a great comic he was!)

Let's start chronologically with Dan Dare

Eagle 9 April 1960 (Vol.11 No 15)

The printed version

I wrote about how Wally Wood used some of this page (in an article on Al Williamson) and here it is up for auction! Monkhouse looks to have stored his stuff very well and this very unique piece is likely to have started fading before he got it, in my opinion. The printed version above is too saturated in blue and therefore is not a great comparison but I thought might be of interest!


This piece is described as:

Dan Dare original artwork painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Eagle Vol. 11, No 15 page 2 (9 April 1960)
Dan and Pierre blast off in Nimbus Two in search of the wreck of her sister ship
From the Bob Monkhouse archive
Pelikan inks on board. 17 x 13 ins
£1,200-1,500

It appeared in the third, and last Dan Dare story Bellamy part illustrated in Eagle, "Project Nimbus" - appearing in Vol. 11:12 - 11:28 (19 March 1960 - 9 July 1960) and it's amazing to see this piece become available.   

The second item up for auction in chronological order was produced by Bellamy in  1967 (see the top of this article)

Comic Book Auctions Limited describes this:

Thunderbirds original double page artwork (1967) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 105, 1967
From the Bob Monkhouse archive
Carrying a priceless shipment, Deathprobe 1's controls are jammed and the pilot is refused permission to abort ... Thunderbirds 2 and 3 are go ...
Bright Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 20 ins
£2,500-3,500

In the photos Nancy Bellamy shared with us, there was a photo of the cover of a magazine called Photography (May 1966). The same image was used on the Hotspur Annual of 1967 (dated 1968). Did Bellamy use it for reference for this Thunderbirds strip?
 

The Hotspur Annual 1968

Lastly we have also got three Garth strips from the story "The Mask of Atacama"  which ran originally in the Daily Mirror from 13 July 1973 - 25 October 1973 (#G165-G254). These are beautiful and show exactly what I meant by his use of such restricted space. Why Malcolm photographed them in the wrong order I don't know, but three consecutive numbers are up for grabs!

Garth #G238, G239, G240

Garth: 3 original consecutive artworks (1973) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror 6-9 October 1973
From the Bob Monkhouse archive
High priestess, Tiahuaca, sets a fiery trap for Garth and Atacama …
Indian ink on board. 20 x 18 ins (3)
£700-900

I suspect these will go further than the estimate (as will the ones above!), and I'll update the spreadsheet with the sale prices as soon as they are published - thank you Malcolm!

And because we are celebrating Frank Bellamy's birthday here's an added bonus from the brilliant Menomonee Falls Gazette (#181), some episodes before the ones above and including them too!

AUCTION SUMMARY

Dan Dare
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£1080.00
ENDING PRICE: £2050.00 hammer price

END DATE: Sunday 2 June 2019 14:54 BST

Thunderbirds - TV21 #105
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd
STARTING BID:£2250.00
ENDING PRICE: £8300.00 hammer price

END DATE: Sunday 2 June 2019 15:26 BST

Garth: The Mask of Atacama
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£640.00
ENDING PRICE: £1120.00 hammer price

END DATE: Sunday 2 June 2019 15:27 BST

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds on eBay -TV21 #72 double page

Original artwork: Thunderbirds from TV21 #72

UPDATE: 
Reduced to £6250 (5 March 2019)
Reduced to £5850 (9 March 2019)
Reduced to £5000 (19 March 2019)
...
Offered for £4,550 August 2019 

There's another "Thunderbirds" episode by Frank Bellamy on eBay this time with a "Buy it now" price of £6,500 (or make an offer!)
The seller (d.g100) describes the piece like this:

TV Century 21 Issue 72 June 1966 Thunderbirds
Frank Bellamy Original Art
Very sad to let this one go
Includes great images or Thunderbirds 1 2 and 4
Signed by Bellamy
Colours still good and has all the original writing.  Please note the Thunderbirds title is a copy
Approx 65cm X 41cm
Available with conservation framing inc. Museum glass for collection
Post sent unframed

He or she appears to live in the Loughborough area for anyone that fancies picking it up with the "conservation framing". However I have to disagree that the colours are "still good", they're not bad but are somewhat faded. Compare the colours here to the other piece being currently auctioned and you'll see the difference, and here's the comic (with the usual proviso that comparing a scan of a comic with the original isn't exact) to make a comparison.

Scan of the comic as published TV21 #72

 But having said all that I was shocked how much was paid for artwork that appeared to me to be more faded than this example and it is one of the rarer double-page spreads!

Here are the other photos the seller has provided just for the record.

AUCTION SUMMARY

Thunderbirds - TV21 #72
WHERE?: eBay
BUY IT NOW:
£6,500.00 
Reduced to £6250 
Reduced to £5850
Reduced to £5000 
Reduced to £4,550

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds and Garth from Bob Monkhouse Estate

Original art from the Bob Monkhouse collection
Thunderbirds from TV21 #131

I woke this morning to the announcement of three pieces of artwork produced by Frank Bellamy, in the latest (March 2019) Comic Book Auctions Limited  and from the estate of the late Bob Monkhouse. You might recall that the previous lots appeared in November last year. If you follow the link (or jump to my page where I keep sales records) you'll see they raised a fair amount of money. Will these go for more? "No-Predictions Norman", they call me!

Let's start with the headliner: From TV21 #131, this is the second episode from the story which ran in TV21 #130 - 136 (15 July 67 - 26 August 67) called the "Voyage of the President". It is described as:

Lot # 102:
Thunderbirds original double-page artwork (1967) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 131, 1967
From the Bob Monkhouse Archive
Fearing a rebel attack on the President super-ship Thunderbirds 1 keeps station but a rogue tanker is on collision course…
Bright Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 20 ins
£1,800-2,300

I wouldn't call it a "rogue tanker" as Casta and Golan are deliberately aiming at the 'President'. Here's the page from TV21 so you can see how this page has retained the colour - remember children, do not hang your art on the wall! The sun is a killer as we've seen many times over the years. Bear in mind this is a scan of a printed page and nowhere as clear as the original art above!!

Thunderbirds from TV21 #131

The next lot I found interesting is Lot #92 which is a rare page from the serial "Brett Million" and this story was the only one illustrated by Bellamy, called "Ghost World". I've written about this before (and it's worth highlighting Steve Holland's brilliant index again). It appeared in Boy's World, a photogravure comic which ran the story from Volume 1:46 - 1:49 and continued into 2:1 - 2:17. (7 December 1963 -28 December 1963, 4 January 1964 -  25 April 1964). The lot is described:

Lot # 92:
Boy's World/Brett Million and the Ghost World original artwork (1963) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy
From the Bob Monkhouse Archive
From Boy's World Vol. 2: No 9. To save the ship Brett undergoes the life threatening risk of neural amplication [sic] - invisibility!
Bright Pelikan inks on board. 20 x 15 ins
£1,200-1,500

Original art from Bob Monkhouse collection
Boy's World 29 Feb 1964 Vol.2:9

This, the 13th episode of the story, shows how Bellamy was using different colours for this strip, for some reason. The artwork may be a bit faded but the comparison below with the printed version shows similar colouring. Bellamy had a knack of making ships look very futuristic and alien! Here's a photo of my copy of the comic to compare.

Photo of the comic Boy's World 29 Feb 1964 Vol.2:9

The idea of accelerated time = invisibility appeared on my radar in Star Trek: The Original Series (as they call it now!) in the episode "Wink of an eye". This was aired first on 29 November 1968, so did Lee Coon the author of the story read British comics? I doubt it, but who knows?

Then we have the third offer which is of three consecutive Garth strips from the Daily Mirror.  "The Wreckers" story ran from 26 October 1973 - 18 February 1974 and these three strips certainly show how Bellamy had a very good command of such a small space.

Garth: The Wreckers Episodes G304-306

One episode of the story of "The Wreckers" is held by the Cartoon Museum which will soon be open in its new location in London.

The lot is described thus:

Lot # 104:
Garth: 3 original consecutive artworks (1973) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror 22-27 December 1973
From the Bob Monkhouse Archive
Garth is trapped with Andromeda in Tallion's torture chamber…
Indian ink on board. 20 x 18 ins (x3)
£600-800

I'll update the spreadsheet with the sale prices as soon as they are published - thank you Malcolm!


AUCTION SUMMARY

Thunderbirds - TV21 #131
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd
STARTING BID:£1620.00
ENDING PRICE: £4750.00

END DATE: Sunday 3 March 2019 14:00 GMT

Garth: The Wreckers
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£540.00
ENDING PRICE: £1320.00

END DATE: Sunday 3 March 2019 14:00 GMT

Brett Million & The Ghost World
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£1080.00
ENDING PRICE: £1580.00

END DATE: Sunday 3 March 2019 14:00 GMT

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds X 2 on eBay

I've been contacted by the seller to let me know these two consecutive pieces are for auction on eBay. They realise they are very faded but nevertheless are the original boards that Frank Bellamy produced for TV21 #177 Thunderbirds strip "The 2068 Olympics". They have been put on at £700 for the pair which is a fair price in my opinion, but let's see what happens!

Thunderbirds from TV21 #177 p.10

Thunderbirds from TV21 #177 p.11

The seller describes the two artworks:

Frank Bellamy Thunderbirds TV21 Artwork

Original Frank Bellamy artwork from the 177 editor [sic] of TV21 in 1968. 

Still with its printing marks. 

Artwork faded over time, but still colour in places, please see pics.

This is a double page spread of 2 artworks. Drawn on CS10 board, and signed by his son on the back on purchase.

Size of each artwork 380mm wide 480mm high

As the seller knows they are faded let me show the pages as scanned from TV21, but bear in mind even here the colour is not as true as the day they were drawn. Remember to keep all your orignal artwork out of the sun!

AUCTION SUMMARY
WHERE: eBay 
SELLER: sjcmac 
STARTING BID:£700 for two pieces
ENDING PRICE: £1332.00
NO. OF BIDS: 8

END DATE: 14 January 2019

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds and Garth from Bob Monkhouse Estate

Cover of TV21 #90 Monster built by Roger Dicken

The November catalogue at Comic Book Auctions Limited run by Malcolm Phillips has some amazing materials up for auction. Follow that link for his catalogue and illustrations and bid via The Saleroom here. He has been entrusted by Bob Monkhouse's Estate to sell some of this collector's extensive artwork and comics. As he says (without hyperbole in my opinion)

We are delighted to draw your attention to some magnificent artwork boards consigned to us from the Bob Monkhouse Archive. They comprise pieces from 1900–1974 and include Ally Sloper by W F Thomas, Film Fun’s Terry Thomas by Terry Wakefield, Erik The Viking, The Trigan Empire, both by Don Lawrence with Garth and Thunderbirds pieces by Frank Bellamy. The Thunderbirds double-page illustration is magnificent and one of his best boards ever to come up for auction.

Tom Derbyshire at Antiques Trade Gazette has written a piece on the auction, which in itself is going to raise some outside interest, in my opinion.

Original art - sans balloons - Thunderbirds from TV21 #90

The Thunderbirds strip comes from TV21 #90, from the story where TB3 crashes on Venus, after blasting some solar matter to pieces. The photo doesn't do this piece credit as I think the colours look very bright and preserved correctly.  What's interesting here is the lack of balloons and captions. This is very unusual to see and I'd love to know how Bob Monkhouse managed to get this like this. Alan Davis' collection of Polaroids and other photos show how Thunderbirds would have been delivered by Bellamy to the publisher, but the artwork I've normally seen for sale has balloons stuck on (or falling off!) so this is a wonderful sale.

Malcolm describes the artwork like this:

Thunderbirds original double-page artwork (1966) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 90 1966. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. The front cover of the comic screamed, "Nightmare Splashdown for Crippled Ship - Monster Attacks Thunderbird 3!" And here is Bellamy's brilliant double-page artwork to prove it! The 'Thunderbirds' logo is an unattached laser colour copy, as are the word balloons with the original comic, all included in the lot. Bright, fresh Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 20 ins. 

Auctioneer's estimate

1,800 GBP - 2,300 GBP (opening bid 1,620 GBP)

The original with the word balloons and captions attached looked like this - bearing in mind it's a scan that's joined together, but you can still see how vibrant the original is.

The three Garth strips  that are being offered form the Bob Monkhouse Estate are from "The Wreckers" story that ran in from 26 October 1973 - 18 February 1974. These three (H26, H27 and H29) show a lovely action sequence in the water - not quite consecutively - and demonstrate how very clear Bellamy's art was for the Garth strip in the Daily Mirror.

Garth: 3 original consecutive [sic] artworks drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror Jan/Feb 1974. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. Garth saves Andromeda from Tallion's clutches … Indian ink on board. 20 x 8 ins (x3)

Auctioneer's estimate

350 GBP - 400 GBP - (opening bid 320 GBP)

H26, H27 and H29 "The Wreckers" Frank Bellamy

As part of the wonderful public service I offer, here's the missing H28 that would have made these consecutive. BUT you are still getting 2 consecutive strips plus one more from the same story from the same source!

H28 of The Wreckers story

I shall record the details as usual here and on my spreadsheet, when the auction ends

AUCTION SUMMARY

Thunderbirds - TV21 #90
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd
STARTING BID:£
ENDING PRICE: £4550 +16% VAT/Sales tax
NO. OF BIDS:

END DATE: Sunday 25 Nov 2018 14:00 GMT

Garth: The Wreckers
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£
ENDING PRICE: £1200 +16% VAT/Sales tax
NO. OF BIDS:

END DATE: Sunday 25 Nov 2018 14:00 GMT