TURIN. It exceeded estimates, becoming the most expensive poster by the Triestine illustrator Marcello Dudovich ever sold at auction: the Cablè Confort Michelin was sold for 100 thousand euros (including royalties) during the poster sale held on 16 and 17 April in Sala Bolaffi in Turin. The winner, after a heated competition with online participants and pallets in Sala Bolaffi, was a famous Italian collector with a passion for vintage cars and automotive memorabilia, connected by telephone.
The famous Bibendum, Michelin’s mascot, therefore remains in Italy, represented by the illustrator from Trieste who died in 1962 while he is lying comfortably inside a tire intent on studying the road map of our country. «After many years we are back on track with a truly unique poster auction in terms of variety and selection of material – comments Filippo Bolaffi, CEO of Aste Bolaffi – and I am pleased that this event was marked by a prestigious record for a our great author. Dudovich’s poster is one of the most expensive ever sold in the world.”
The auction, in which collectors from all over the world, in particular from the United States, France and the United Kingdom, participated via the astebolaffi.it website, closed with a total result of over 570 thousand euros including fees. On the podium of the top lots, in second place was another poster by Dudovich also on an automotive theme, the sought-after affiche from 1908 for the Società Torinese Automobili Elettrici, of which very few examples are known (25 thousand euros including fees), while in third place placed Umberto Di Lazzaro’s poster from 1933 for the tenth anniversary air cruise (17,500 euros including fees).
Tags: Record price Bolaffi auction Michelin Man poster Triestine illustrator Dudovich
