"WHY DO THOSE COST SO MUCH?"
Though studios and animators did not realize it, when creating animation cels to make a television special or a movie, they were creating ORIGINAL PIECES OF ART. An individual hand painted cel is now considered "real" art in the world of art. In addition, animation art is often more appreciated by the public than art found in a museum. (Though now animation art is showing up in art museums across the country too.) Animation art is recognized by everyone. Who doesn't know who Snoopy or Mickey Mouse is? Because these cels are now considered "collectable" art, they are priced and sold by art galleries who obtain the cels from studios.
Prices are not only determined by the fact that cels are now considered "art," however. MARKET FORCES are a driving factor in pricing cels (as well as most consumer items). The recent popularity of owning a piece of a favorite cartoon (a cel) has caused DEMAND for cels to go up. Of course, unlike other products, there are a limited number of cels available at any one time. (Studios will usually only sell small portions of their artwork a few times a year.) As time goes on, the SUPPLY of cels is going down. The basic rule of economics is that when demand is up and supply is down, prices can go up quickly. That is exactly what happened with all animation art, including "Peanuts" cels and lithographs.
All production cels or limited edition cels are not priced the same however. The pricing of individual cels is based on several factors. First, and usually most important, is the scene depicted in the cel. A significant scene or a famous clip from a special will make a cel more costly than a cel depicting an insignificant scene. Also very important in determining the price of a cel is the number of major and minor characters portrayed in the cel. Art galleries use PRICE SCHEDULES to aid them in pricing. For example, in 1996 the price schedule indicated to the gallery to price a cel with four or more major characters around $1,200. The same schedule suggested that a cel with 2 or major characters with one or two minor characters be priced around $750. A cel with only one minor character was only priced around $350. These price schedules often change due to supply and demand. However, the use of the number of major and minor characters to determine the prince always stays the same. For "Peanuts" cels, MAJOR CHARACTERS are: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock, Sally, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, and Pig Pen. MINOR CHARACTERS are: Franklin, Violet, Frieda, Patty, Shermie, and other characters.
Prices for "Peanuts" animation art have NOT decreased over the past few years. In fact, as a whole, prices have gone up or remained the same for most of the art. For the limited edition cels and lithographs, prices jump dramatically as the edition size "runs out." When a limited edition piece falls below 100 items available to be sold, the piece is put ON ALERT. The price often begins to go up rapidly at this point and the piece is often difficult to find at galleries or stores.
As with any product, the quality and condition of the art is highly important to pricing. All of the "Peanuts" animation art offered to the public has always been of equally high quality and condition. Whether the piece of art is framed or unframed will make a significant difference in pricing as well.
Written by Eric A. Wildgrube. From
"Knott's Camp Snoopy Peanuts Animation Art Training Guide."
1996. 2001. Copyright
Knott's Camp Snoopy/The Minntertainment Company. Used with permission.
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