On April 9, Heritage Auctions opened online bidding for its April 30 illustration art auction. The sale features an original published Addams Family cartoon by Charles Addams that purportedly has a New Yorker stamp on the verso and was published in Addams and Evil (1947) as well as in The World of Charles Addams (1991). The drawing shows the "witch lady" we now know as Morticia Addams trimming her Christmas tree with ghoulish decorations while her children—today familiar as Wednesday and Pugsley—look on. Addams began to introduce his family of macabre characters in The New Yorker in 1938, but they were not given names until "The Addams Family" television show appeared in 1964.
Heritage imaged the drawing in the frame, apparently, so there is no photograph to verify that it is indeed "inscribed with The New Yorker stamp on the reverse." Even the description here is unhelpful.
This original artwork was given a presale estimate of $8,000-12,000 which seemed to me a little on the low side for an Addams Family original from The New Yorker. I thought such a piece could conceivably go for much more: the sky is the proverbial limit. In standard live auctions, the lot goes to the highest bidder, usually the last bidder. There was no way I was going to chase this drawing up into the stratosphere, but it occurred to me I could still be an early high bidder and briefly experience the thrill. Well, why not?
Bidding opened at $4,000 and one bid was already placed before I arrived on the scene. I decided to leave an absentee bid of $5,000 ($6250 with the buyer's premium) which I fully understood would be unsuccessful. If I somehow beat the odds and won the bidding, I would be delighted to have it for this price. If I were outbid, as I expected to be, I would still have the memory of being the temporary high bidder.
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| Charles Addams Heritage Auctions April 9, 2021 |
After holding the high bid for nearly three hours and twenty minutes, I was outbid—with twenty days, 16 hours, and 32 minutes still remaining before the live auction.
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| Charles Addams Heritage Auctions April 9, 2021 |
Since April 9, the high bid has risen to $8,250 ($10,312.50 with the premium). In other words, the low estimate already has been met with more than a week to go before the auction goes live. The sky is still the limit.
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| Charles Addams Heritage Auction listing accessed April 22, 2021 |
Whatever New Yorker stamp may or may not be on the back of the art, this drawing did not actually appear in The New Yorker. I researched this only after my brief reign as high bidder came to an untimely end. Perhaps the artwork was held in the New Yorker's bank and killed or simply released when Addams wished to use it in Addams and Evil.
May 1, 2021 Update: Sold yesterday for $87,500! That's a winning bid of $70,000 plus the $17,500 buyer's premium.
April 26, 2023 Update: The drawing was also reprinted in Addams's My Crowd (1970) on page 134.
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