The original illustration for the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in author J.K. Rowling’s famous series, is making headlines as it has sold for a record-breaking $1.9 million in the latest auction.
According to the BBC on the 27th (local time), the watercolor cover art that was drawn by British author and illustrator Thomas Taylor in 1997, was auctioned off for $1.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday. It sold for more than three times the estimated price, becoming the most expensive Potter-related item ever sold at an auction.
According to Sotheby’s, the then 23-year-old Taylor created the artwork at the request of a publishing company. It only took the author, who was working at a bookstore, two days to complete it.
The image, measuring 15.8×11.1 inches, features young Harry Potter with his unmistakably dark brown hair, round glasses, and lightning bolt scar on his forehead, awaiting a ride at Platform 9¾ for his first trip to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The cover illustration first appeared for auction at Sotheby’s London in 2001, when only four of the seven books in the series had been published. At the time, it sold for £85,750 ($108,671). Its price has skyrocketed more than 17 times in 23 years, since.
In the latest auction that lasted seven minutes in New York, bids for Taylor’s cover art reportedly jumped in increments of $50,000. The identity of the final bidder has not been disclosed.
“This illustration marks the first visual representation of Harry Potter and the magical world,” said Dr. Kalika Sands of Sotheby’s.
The record auction price for an item related to the book series was previously held by an unsigned first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which sold for $421,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas in 2021.
