Dear Keisuke,

Well, this is what one gallery told me =/.  For
the recent films that had no cels (CG colored),
employees were allowed to purchase limited edition
runs of reproduction cels (runs of about 50 or
100 made for one scene) amongst a few scenes
picked by the studio.  I have no idea how much
Disney charged the employees for these limited
hand painted reproductions, but the gallery was
selling those for $800.00 - $1000.00 after buying
them from the Disney employees =/.

Also, as Aimee said above, the gallery said that
there has been some stealing from the Disney
archives -_-!  The gallery told me that Disney
did NOT authorize ANY production drawings from
their more recent films (the Little Mermaid up)
to be sold on the open market 8(!  Any drawings
that you might find on eBay or elsewhere were most
likely stolen 8(, or maybe gifts given to
employees and friends.

Moreover, I read a recent article in an animation
magazine saying that there is a lot (i.e. lot
meaning a batch from one source) of FORGED Disney
drawings that have been seen in the animation
market ;_;!  Apparently, the lot was confiscated
and thought destroyed -_-, BUT they made it back
on the market somehow =/, and dealers and
collectors have been told to watch out for these
>=(!  The differences are quite subtle, but pretty
noticeable to an expert in the field (I'm not one
though =P!).  The few things the article did
mention to look out for are the following:

1. The forged (rough) drawings don't look as
smooth as the actual rough drawings.  There was
a picture in the article comparing 2 Donald Duck
drawings.  The forged one almost looked like a
trace with a few loose lines to make it look
authentic.  The authentic drawing had smooth
flowing lines showing the animator roughing out
the motion.  Believe me, you have to look at both
to figure this out =b!

2. Many of the forged drawings had a stamp on it
marking "copywrite (that funny c circle symbol)
Disney," or "final approved copy," etc..  Disney
does NOT mark their production drawings with
these or any type of stamps >=(.


Apparently, dealers are still trying to take all
these forgeries off the market even today =(!

Sigh, okay enough yada, yada, yada, for this reply
then ;).


Sincerely,

Sonia