Original Art on Comic Book Auctions: Thunderbirds x2

Comic Book Auctions Ltd has launched it Summer 2011 catalogue with bidding closing on Tuesday 7 June 2011 at 8 PM UK Time.

The piece that will be of particular interest to Bellamy fans is Thunderbirds original artwork (1968) from TV Century 21 No 137 - Lot number 216

Lot #216 Original art

Printed version

Thunderbirds original double page artwork drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 137 Sept 21 1967

The survey ship 'Palmerston' ploughs through icy seas that inexplicably start heating to boiling point. The Thunderbirds space station alerts to their S.O.S. and John Tracy launches Thunderbirds 2 and Gordon takes Thunderbirds 4 to the water. Then suddenly, 'Virgil The Sun - that light! It's - aaagh!'
The green and blue has faded from this piece, the red remains strong. Pelikan inks on board. 18 x 25 ins
£1,000-1,500

Yes, the piece is faded - don't blame the seller, we all have things displayed in our houses, that we like and the sun just keeps on shining - and therefore fading the inks. Those people who are smart (I have faded art so guess which I am!) get a laser copy and mount that and then store the piece away. When I first saw an original that had been stored properly I was absolutely shocked how vibrant the colour gradations were that Bellamy did.

UPDATE: Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: £1,815(June 2011) 

There's also Lot # 217

Thunderbirds original artwork by Frank Bellamy from TV Century 21 No 168 1968
The Hood targets the final destruction of Tracy Island but brainwashed Brains is found alive - now he has to be electronically debriefed in the lab - but will he be rescued from the borders of insanity?
The green and blue has faded from this piece. Pelikan inks on board. 16 x 13 ins
£600-800

TV21 #168 Original art

TV21 #168 published version

UPDATE: Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: ££968(June 2011)

But the thing that regularly hits me about FB is that he didn't do things easily. He knew the header would be added to his artwork and left space for it, but that didn't mean leaving the space blank. Some examples are more shocking than others, but look at the one above - enlarged below - 

The header is not left blank!

Here's another example from Thunderbirds

The printed header TV21 #164

The original art header

The recent Chris Bentley reprints showed this very clearly wherever the original art was shown without the lettering stuck on. (see Amazon link for details) Next time you look at Thunderbirds take a look behind the header, you'll be surprised what artwork you missed!