A pricing guide is pretty much impossible for a
lot of reasons. One reason is that no two cels
are exactly the same, so you would have to price
every cel in the series - obviously that's not
going to happen with thousands of cels per
series. Prices also vary widely based on when
the cel is sold, and where. A cel sold on a
private collector's site will often not bring as
much as one on a popular dealer's site. Auctions
can drive a price higher if bidders have a
bidding war and two or more bidders decide to go
just a *little* higher... often several times.
The scene the cel comes from is also very
important. Two cels which are essencial
identical can range a lot in price based on the
outfit the character is wearing. The condition
of the cel also affects the price- paint missing,
line fading, folds in the acetate. The economy
has also been affecting prices, lots of cels
aren't selling for as much because people just
don't have as much spending money. The
popularity of a series can change- ie, the price
of the cels can increase up to about ten fold
once the show is released in the U.S. or shown on
cartoon network. Lastly there is an uncertain
supply at best- if the studio doesn't release any
cels for years, the cels become scarce and prices
increase. |