Posted in: Heritage Sponsored, Movies | Tagged: heritage auctions, lord of the rings, LoTR, sponsored, the hobbit

Animated Lord of the Rings Production Cels Hit Auction

Published Wed, 19 Jan 2022 11:57:12 -0600

Long before visionary director Peter Jackson would adapt J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings fantasy novels into arguably three of the best films ever made, fans of Middle-earth were treated to a cult classic cartoon that remains influential to this day. In 1978, director Ralph Bakshi took on Tolkien's intimidating tome for an animated film called The Lord of the Rings that pulled from the trilogy's first two books, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. While there was never a sequel to this film to cover the rest of the trilogy, Peter Jackson has cited the film as an influence while also speaking about how different his take would be. Fans of this original Hollywood take on Tolkien's classic can now head over to Heritage Auctions to bid on a unique lot of production cels from the film.

Lord of the Rings Main Cast Production Cels Group of 3. Credit: Heritage Auctions

Lord of the Rings production cel. Credit: Heritage Auctions

LOTR production cel. Credit: Heritage Auctions

Lord of the Rings Main Cast Production Cels Group of 3 (Ralph Bakshi, 1978).

Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's grand "Middle-earth" epic Lord of the Rings was for years the ultimate filmed version. Here are many of the prime players in this saga, in three hand-painted production cels. The first is a full-figure image of Frodo, who is standing about 6" tall; next is the team that searched for the One Ring – Pippin, Samwise, Merry, and Frodo, with a combined image area of 7.5" x 6". Finally, the "old men" of this film, Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins, with figure sizes of 8.25" and 4.5". The cels are individually matted, with mat openings of 9.5" x 8", 10" x 8", and 10" x 8.5", respectively. Mat sizes are all 18" x 14". Cel condition is Very Good to Fine with light handling.

Lovers of the animated Lord of the Rings can now journey to Heritage Auctions to bid for this production cel group. I wish you all the very best of luck!