The ultimate Dragons Lair cel

[brian]

Someone just listed the cel I have been searching for since I had gottwn my letter from Don Bluth studios. The ulra rare 3 char cel. Too bad they are smoking crack. They want almost $10,000 for it. Now more than ever I wished i had bought the cel for $75 back in 83.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRA-RARE-DRAGONS-LAIR-PRODUCTION-CEL-3-LAYER-SIGNED-BY-DON-BLUTH-BACKGROUND-/200926038408?pt=AU_AnimationArt&hash=item2ec8200988

edit: Had the wrong price. It is about $9800 not $9500 USD.

[Superully]

one word: INSANE!!!

[Dazza]

That is bloody ridiculous! It's doesn't even have the original background, it's a laser copy!!!!

Besides that's not the best scene, the best scene is in my collection 

[apinion]

That Smithee cel is great. There is no way that guy is getting $10,000 for his cel. I got this cel about 10 years ago for $70:

[brian]

Nice pan cel and you got it at a great price. Any DL with original background usually sold back then in the hundreds, even death scenes.

[level42]

Meehhh, you never know, someone just paid over half a million Euro for an old PCB with a bunch of ancient TTL chips on them:

http://www.nu.nl/tech/3483523/ruim-half-miljoen-zeldzame-apple-i-computer.html

If I were Nolan Bushnell I'd demand 30% of that amount, some of the parts were stolen from Atari and the PCB was designed by an Atari engineer (in his spare time or.....)

[Noonchester]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but these cels aren't all from the same scene.  After reviewing the game footage, the Dragon cel is from a sequence a few seconds later.  Granted, the cel of the Dragon that was substituted is a nicer cel, as the cels of the Dragon from the scene containing the "held cel" of Dirk are all eyes closed.  While nice, it is not (technically speaking) a matching setup.  This auction stood out to me because I have a cel setup of the Dragon & Daphne from the slightly later scene and Don Moore did a masterful job of repainting this background for me.  I treasure it. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-7kRWrSdOyKaVY3TXVSVzRwSG8/edit?usp=sharing

[brian]

The guy relisted it. He came down 7 thousand... but it still isn't worth it since it is a mismatched cel. Noonchester is correct. The dirk layer is from an earlier cel and Daphne and the dragon are from a later time.

As you can see from this picture from my collection:



I got that for $500 from Don Bluth studios about 5 years ago. Definately not worth what the guy is asking.

[level42]

My friend, you are price policing.

I don't care a rat's ass about those drawings and wouldn't pay 1 euro for them so I could just as well post that your cells aren't worth $500 either.

In other people's eyes my Japanese Namco Galaxian is a big ancient damaged wooden box with a simple game in it and they wouldn't give 1 Euro for it either....others might pay hundreds of Euro's for it....

What I'm trying to say.....something is worth what the market is willing to pay. Obviously you were right about it the first time, now he lowered his price.
It's not exactly the best of times to sell something like this. Pay $500 for a drawing that you can....well ....look at ? I think people need their money for other stuff today, however there are always hardcore fans with plenty of cash...
That's how the world works.

But there's no need for price policing. It will settle itself

[brian]

The seller can ask 1 cent or one million dollars, it doesnt matter to me. It is his cel and he can ask anything he wants for it. It is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay and I still would not pay that much for a mismatched cel. I never stated how much his cel was worth, just that I didn't feel that it was worth that much. If I had felt the cel was worth it, I would have bought it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

As for your comments, Pay $500 for a cel that I can look at? Yes. To me it was worth every penny I paid. The cel hangs on my wall in the hall (away from direct sunlight) and I look at it every day. It is a one of a kind piece of art. I would not trade it even for a Picasso BUT I also did not pay a Picasso price for it.

The cel being offered for sale is still a nice looking cel even if it is mismatched. The seller should state that it is mismatched and not try to pass it off as the holy grail of DL cels.

There are some other nice looking cels that just came up for auction. One or 2 have the original backgrounds.

[Noonchester]

I see the Daphne up for auction right now.  It's a 16 field cel that's, sadly, been trimmed.  The Dirk with the background for $5700.00 is also very mismatched.  I guess this is the state of things with all the best cels either being sold years ago for $50. to $125. apiece by the studio at Comic Con or through the Don Bluth Fan Club or more recently by Goldman for more than top dollar before dumping the rest to that school for the write off.   

[Dazza]

Exactly as mentioned above, it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. This type of art is seriously niche, but collectors will love it with the same zeal as a famous artists piece of work.

The problem with the sale is that it is being touted as the grail of this niche area of artwork. Where in actual fact it's mismatched (I could live with that) but more importantly missing the original background. The big money on these cels is all about getting the original BGs, so seriously disappointing.

I wonder how much my Smithee scene is actually worth now looking at those other auctions rather expensive pricing for stuff that is seriously inferior......

[guardiansofgood]

Advise: What would be the market price for the cel listed in this post. Im hunting for some cels to add to my animation collection and Ive seen these cels continue to raise in price since 2005 when Don Bluth and partner Gary Goldman donated their animation archives to Savannah College.

The attached cel of just Princess Daphne with a copy background sold on ebay in june 13 for $1500. But I rencently lost a bid on a Princess Daphne from this sequence which sold fo $545 in March 13, so huge swings. Based on these 2 references I thought this cel would be in the $1500-$1750 range. Any feedback from the cel community would be appreciated. I hate overpaying  

Also, anyone looking to sell any Space Ace or Dragon's Lair in the future feel free to drop me an email. I wish I bought some of these cels with backgrounds 5 years ago...they where cheap the art in the backgrounds is great!

Thanks and enjoy the site as a long time stalker!

[DarthNuno]

Well, fortunately for me, I got some SA/DL cels few years ago, for 'reasonable' prices. The prices weren't too high between 2005 / 2008...  At that time, a 'normal' cel would cost $200-$500, depending the scene of course, usually with a printed background copy... those with original background were more expensive, and even more for the 'top' scenes (Dirk & Daphne together, or and ending scene by example...). Since a couple of years, prices go higher, and so too much for me! 
Caution with the last ones I've seen on ebay : scenes don't match all the time : the sellers put characters from one scene, and background from an other one! I've also seen mismatch between the characters themselves! And most of the time, it's not the original hand paint background, but just a copy. Just try to find the scene in the original video game before buying the cel of course.
Otherwise, owning a Dragon's Lair or Space Ace cel is something unique... It's the only game you can have an original & historic part of it, and it's Don Bluth stuff, so it's also 'Art'  Now...Art & money...each of us has his own perception of the things... 

[guardiansofgood]

I hear you, I am a big collector of 80s animation cels so its always pick and "loose" based on my highest priority of what available at the time and the cash situation. Are your cels on line anywhere I enjoy just looking at them.!

I only have one Space Ace production cel....Ace in the 3 eyed Slime monsters mouth and I have a few Dragons Lair cels. Most with no backgrounds. I have 2 original DL backgrounds both very nice.  All expensive....which is why Im trying to get some advise on the price of this cel.