Framed animation cels given to a Nelvana employee when she left the company to go to USC…
While searching eBay, looking for various Nelvana items, I came across this unique piece of early Nelvana history. A seller had listed four framed animation cels he found at an estate sale for a woman named Elizabeth who had worked at Nelvana in the 70s and left in 1980 to go to USC. She was presented with cels, one of which was signed a lettered, dedicated to her with messages of good wishes on her new adventures.
I bid on them all of course, but sadly the bids rose too steeply for me to keep pace, but I did manage to secure the one with A Cosmic Christmas. Also shown were two from Take Me Up To The Ballgame.
I got a bit lucky when the seller sent me the wrong frame and I received a frame with a scene from The Devil and Daniel Mouse. Paying to ship a framed print across country can be a bit pricey, so we worked out a deal where I paid for this new print as well, rather than have to send it back and risk transportation. It was more than I intended on paying, but I had to keep reminding myself how lucky I had been to receive something that was never even put up to auction. I was still anxious though until I finally got possession of the Cosmic Christmas one. Any of them would have been great, but as is probably obvious by now, A Cosmic Christmas was the one I truly wanted.
I haven’t gotten to it yet, but it’s my intention, once the pandemic lessens it’s hold, to get them reframed and somehow include the ‘Thank You Elizabeth‘ inscription on the other frame. Knowing that these had a personal history, and personal connection with Nelvana makes them extra special. It would be nice to add a piece of that story to the frames, so people can see how unique and interesting they are.
I have to assume these aren’t actual production pieces, since it’d be unusual to have so many characters as one element on a cel. I assume they made them up special for special occasions. That makes them even more interesting to me.
Having these items, that no doubt held a special place in this person’s heart, make them all the more interesting. Not just amazing pieces of history from the artistic zenith in a legendary company’s history, they’re priceless in a way. Not in the actual dollar way, or I’d own all five, but we can only do what we can, and I feel privileged to have gotten two.
And now, every time I get another piece of Nelvana history in my collection, I always look to see if there’s an Elizabeth involved. Long shot I’m sure, but still, you never know what connections you can make…
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