There are two types of people in this world. Those who like Tintin and those who prefer Asterix. The others - people who don’t know or, worse still, even care - simply do not count.
It goes without saying Tintin fans are superior. They don’t just get off on reading comics but have an appreciation of art, fine storytelling, exotic adventures and detectives in bowler hats.
Asterix is okay - it certainly has its humorous moments but, let’s face it, is more a cartoon strip. He gives adults who like to read comics - we call them graphic novels - a bad name.
One in the eye for boring grown-ups who fail to understand getting old need not mean losing a childish enthusiasm for life is Tintin has become a cool investment.
While you might think it makes more sense to trust overpaid men in pin-striped suits to gamble with your cash the hand of Hérge could be a better bet.
First edition comic books, original art and figurines are all highly collectable - values typically doubling in a decade. With a Stephen Spielberg Tintin movie Secret of the Unicorn on the horizon values could soar higher.
Sales of Tintin items are held at least twice a year in France with the latest last October at the Chateau of Cheverny in the Loire Valley - the inspiration for Captain Haddock’s Marlinpike Hall.
Tintin in the Congo is one of the biggest hits. Perhaps because it is so politically incorrect, with its exploding rhinos, black servants and colonial masters. Last year a rare 1932 edition of Tintin Les Aventures De Tintin Reporter Du Petit Vingtieme Au Congo signed by Hergé as‘ Tintin’ and by his wife as ‘Snowy’ sold for £19,151.
But this is still cheap compared to original art. The world-record for comics is held by Tintin at £508,000 paid in 2008 for a 1932 cover for Tintin en Amérique. A double-page from King Ottokar’s Sceptre sold for a record £212,476 last year.
Collectables too have rocketed in value. A 1987 resin model of Thompson and Thomson in bathing costumes originally sold for £600 hit double its estimate last year at £3,446.
Still think Tintin is just for kids? Admit you are wrong.
But if the numbers fail to convince roll up the sleeves for some hard-headed investment research. No need to be battered into submission by double-speak sales literature or tricked by colourful bar chart projections.
Just go out and buy Tintin in Tibet.
It goes without saying Tintin fans are superior. They don’t just get off on reading comics but have an appreciation of art, fine storytelling, exotic adventures and detectives in bowler hats.
Asterix is okay - it certainly has its humorous moments but, let’s face it, is more a cartoon strip. He gives adults who like to read comics - we call them graphic novels - a bad name.
One in the eye for boring grown-ups who fail to understand getting old need not mean losing a childish enthusiasm for life is Tintin has become a cool investment.
While you might think it makes more sense to trust overpaid men in pin-striped suits to gamble with your cash the hand of Hérge could be a better bet.
First edition comic books, original art and figurines are all highly collectable - values typically doubling in a decade. With a Stephen Spielberg Tintin movie Secret of the Unicorn on the horizon values could soar higher.
Sales of Tintin items are held at least twice a year in France with the latest last October at the Chateau of Cheverny in the Loire Valley - the inspiration for Captain Haddock’s Marlinpike Hall.
Tintin in the Congo is one of the biggest hits. Perhaps because it is so politically incorrect, with its exploding rhinos, black servants and colonial masters. Last year a rare 1932 edition of Tintin Les Aventures De Tintin Reporter Du Petit Vingtieme Au Congo signed by Hergé as‘ Tintin’ and by his wife as ‘Snowy’ sold for £19,151.
But this is still cheap compared to original art. The world-record for comics is held by Tintin at £508,000 paid in 2008 for a 1932 cover for Tintin en Amérique. A double-page from King Ottokar’s Sceptre sold for a record £212,476 last year.
Collectables too have rocketed in value. A 1987 resin model of Thompson and Thomson in bathing costumes originally sold for £600 hit double its estimate last year at £3,446.
Still think Tintin is just for kids? Admit you are wrong.
But if the numbers fail to convince roll up the sleeves for some hard-headed investment research. No need to be battered into submission by double-speak sales literature or tricked by colourful bar chart projections.
Just go out and buy Tintin in Tibet.
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