Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone artwork sells for record £1.5m

The watercolour is now the most valuable Harry Potter item ever sold

A watercolour drawing for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has fetched a record amount at auction.

Thomas Taylor’s artwork, which appeared on the cover of the first book in the series by JK Rowling, was sold for $1.9m (£1.5m) by Sotheby’s auction house in New York on Wednesday (27 June).

Sotheby’s said it is “the most valuable Harry Potter item ever sold at auction”. Previously, a first edition copy of the same novel was thought to fetch the highest price recorded for an item from the fantasy series, having sold for $421,000 (£337,238) at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, in December 2021.

The new sale of the illustration by Taylor, which featured on the debut edition of the novel in 1997, was sold after a four-way battle between bidders that lasted nearly 10 minutes.

Taylor’s artwork had an estimate of $400,000-$600,000 (£320,420-£480,630), which Sotheby’s states is the “highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on an item of any Harry Potter-related work”.

The watercolour was first offered at auction in 2001 at Sotheby’s London, when only the first four books in the series were published.

A first edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, with illustration by Thomas Taylor (PA)

At the time, the depiction of the budding wizard, with his dark hair, round glasses and lightning bolt scar, on his way to Hogwarts, was estimated at £20,000 to £25,000 before being sold at £85,750.

Taylor, who went on to write the children’s series Erie-On-Sea, had his first professional commission with Harry Potter at the age of 23. After being asked to illustrate the character by Barry Cunningham at Bloomsbury, Taylor took two days to complete the illustration.

The illustrator – who was among the first to read the Philosopher’s Stone manuscript – concentrated watercolours on cold-pressed watercolour paper and outlined with black Karisma pencil to create the iconic piece.

Taylor’s illustration sold for a record £1.5m (Sotheby's)

Taylor said of the sale: “It is exciting to see the painting that marks the very start of my career, decades later and as bright as ever. It takes me back to the experience of reading Harry Potter for the first time – one of the first people in the world to do so – and the process of creating what is now an iconic image.

“As I write and illustrate my own stories today, I am proud to look back on such magical beginnings.”

All bids include buyer’s premium.