Price Increased Over 17 Times in 23 Years
Highest Priced Work in the Harry Potter Series
The original cover illustration of the first book in the 'Harry Potter' series, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' was sold at auction for $1.9 million (approximately 2.63 billion KRW). This is the highest price ever achieved for a work related to the novel series.
According to BBC and The Telegraph on the 27th (local time), the piece, drawn in 1997 by British illustrator Thomas Taylor, was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York, USA, the previous day. The estimated winning bid for this illustration was up to $600,000 (830 million KRW), but it sold for $1.9 million, three times the initial estimate.
The identity of the winning bidder was not disclosed. During the seven-minute auction, bids repeatedly jumped in increments of $50,000 (approximately 70 million KRW).
Measuring 401x282mm, the illustration depicts the wizard Harry Potter, with dark brown hair, round glasses, and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, standing at Platform 9¾ in front of the 'Hogwarts Express,' preparing to board the train.
At the time, 23-year-old Taylor was commissioned by the publisher to create the cover illustration for a "new book by an unknown author," and it is known that he completed the drawing in just two days. Calica Sands of Sotheby's commented, "This illustration is the very first visual representation of Harry Potter and the magical world."
This cover illustration first appeared at a Sotheby's auction in London in 2001, when only four of the seven books in the series had been published, and sold for ?85,750 (approximately 150 million KRW). The price has increased more than 17 times over 23 years.
Meanwhile, prior to this auction, the highest auction price for an item related to the series was the unsigned first edition of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' sold in Dallas, Texas, in 2021. That first edition was sold for $421,000 (570 million KRW) at the time.
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