Astro Boy Production Cel in Flight, with Matching Pencil Drawing and a Colour-Copy Sky
Astro Boy Production Cel in Flight, with Matching Pencil Drawing and a Colour-Copy Sky
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $203, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Ornate 7 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Print, painting and frame
Condition report
Very Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Speed, in one frame
For the collector who likes the cel and the hand that drew it kept together.
Best for: Animation art and Tezuka collections
Condition notes
Light marks and age wear as expected of production material. Cel not stuck to the drawing.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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A production cel of Astro Boy in flight, with its matching pencil drawing. The sky behind him is a colour-copy background, not an original production background.
The Piece
The figure is small in the frame, as it was on screen, which gives the sheet its sense of height and speed. The paint is intact and the cel is not stuck to its drawing. The pencil sheet that guided the painter is supplied with it, the pairing collectors prefer.
The blue sky is a colour-copy background rather than an original production background. Handwritten studio marks sit at the top of the cel, and the drawing is marked A30.
Astro Boy on Screen
Osamu Tezuka drew Astro Boy for the page in 1952 and brought him to television in 1963, the series that set the pattern for Japanese animation. Until computers took over in the late 1990s every frame was painted by hand on clear acetate and photographed once over its background, then put aside. What survives of that labour is scattered and unrepeatable, and each sheet records a single twenty-fourth of a second of the film.
Details
- Series: Astro Boy
- Character: Atom
- Medium: Hand-painted acetate cel
- Drawing: Matching pencil drawing, marked A30
- Background: Colour copy, not an original production background
Condition
- Light marks and age wear as expected of production material.
- The cel is not stuck to the drawing.
Condition grade B (good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
A hand-painted production cel, offered with its pencil drawing and a colour-copy background. Studio material of this kind was never issued with a certificate. Keep the sheets flat, away from damp, heat and strong light. Examined and photographed in Japan before dispatch.
Delivery from Japan
Packed by hand in Japan with rigid protection and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Further reading: Read our guide Astro Boy and Osamu Tezuka: A Collector's Guide to the Mighty Atom and look up anime cel in the Japonista Lexicon. Browse the anime art and collectibles for related pieces.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Continue browsing in Just Arrived.
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