?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
PINK PANTHER / DEPATIE-FRELENG "Reel Pink" and "Pink Sphinx." Group of 2 animation cels, Reel Pink (first released November 15th, 1965) and Pink Sphinx (released October 23rd, 1968).
This is a lot of two scarce Pink Panther production cels from short films early in the feline's career: The cel of Pink Panther fishing is from Reel Pink; the cel of him sporting a pith helmet is from Pink Sphinx. Both shorts were directed by Warner Bros veteran Hawley Pratt.
The matching frame for the Reel Pink cel appears appears at the 3 min 48 sec mark, as the Panther is pulled towards the water by what turns out to be a feisty little crab. A hallmark of the earliest Pink Panther cels is the use of red grease pencil for the line work, as seen in this example. Later in the decade the studio switched to black Xerox lines with hand inked accents when needed, as in the Pink Sphinx cel.The matching Pink Sphinx frame appears 2 min 31 sec into the short, while the Panther pursues an uncooperative camel in disguise. This cel bears a seldom seen "Mirisch-Geoffrey-DF" copyright label, which would have been applied to cels distributed for publicity purposes or as gifts to fans.
Background prints related to their respective films are included with each cel for presentation purposes. Cels from the first decade of the Pink Panther's long screen career are the hardest to find by far, and these are two fantastic examples.
