Tintin with the Golden Claws

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Hergé was a nice father to Tintin. From 1930 to 1939, in the first eight albums, he let him live his life as a boy scout reporter busy fighting against evil and bandits. "Le Vingtième Siècle", which published the strips in his supplement, offered to Hergé an audience that could fully appreciate such a character.

Then it is war. Le Vingtième Siècle ceases publication, and Hergé is now reaching a wider audience with "le Soir" which offers him the place for a daily strip.

Tintin is transformed by this change. Hergé creates an exuberant character, Captain Haddock, which compensates for the courteous and disciplined Tintin. Thereafter the two characters shall never separate.

The first of these new adventures is "le Crabe aux Pinces d'Or" (The Crab with the Golden Claws). It will be the last Tintin album in black and white.

Its cover, designed in 1942, is an icon for Tintin lovers. Nearly 70 years later, having been in color, it still adorns the new editions of this volume. Artcurial sell the original drawing in black ink and pencil lead, 43 x 31 cm, in a frame, on 13 and 14 March in Paris.

This work is estimated 350 K €.

On 29 March 2008, the same auction house had recorded 650 K € before charge on the original gouache for the cover of the third album "Tintin en Amérique" (Tintin in America). I told this story in the French-speaking group of the network, which was not yet bilingual in that early time.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

This historic drawing (considered as such by Tintin fans) was sold 370 K € charges included.

This is a very good result. It is logical that it has remained below the price paid last year for Tintin en Amérique, as this gouache could be regarded as a relic (by Tintin fans).