An original “Calvin and Hobbes” watercolor has fetched $85,000 in a online auction that closed Wednesday night. The whooping total came to $101,575 with the buyer’s premium, a 19.5 percent add-on to the winning bid.
The work of Bill Watterson, creator of the endearing comic strip, rarely enters the market. The artist is characterized as a private person and one who “shun the merchandising bonanza of a popular character,” making his work high in demand, according to the Heritage Auctions.
The painting, the 13-by-10-inch cover to the 1989-90 “Calvin and Hobbes” calendar, was in the collection of Rick Marschall, an American comic strip historian. The lower right of the painting is signed and has the following inscription: “For Rick Marschall, ‘komic konnoisseur’ Bill Watterson.”
