Original Wallace and Gromit puppets have fetched eye-watering prices at auction as Aardman Animations marks 50 years of animation.
Wallace, the cheese-loving inventor, sold for $95,000, while his long-suffering dog Gromit attracted close to $60,000. Wallace was presented in his familiar knitted vest.
The highest price was paid for Feathers McGraw, the villain known for disguising himself with a rubber glove. The character sold for $107,000.
It was the first time Aardman had offered the famous duo’s puppets at auction, giving fans the chance to buy pieces associated with the television and film characters.
More than 200 items from the studio’s productions went under the hammer, including Morph, one of Aardman’s earliest creations, which first appeared in the 1970s.
Propstore auction manager Sian Taylor said: “You’ll remember the first Wallace and Gromit film that you saw or the show on the sheep, which I think is one of Aardman’s biggest exports.”
The sale also included original artwork and props from across five decades of production, with some items available at lower prices than the headline-making puppets.
Money raised through the auction will be used to train the next generation of animators in stop-motion, the painstaking technique of moving characters by hand for every frame.
