Richard Oldden: Elephants and Submarines

Is this really the way to sell original cartoon art? Four more drawings by Richard Oldden changed hands on eBay on May 5 for a paltry $67.51 plus $20 shipping. Their publication history is unknown. In the space of a week, six distinct groupings of four original works each were sold on the online auction platform, along with another smaller group of two known to be from The New Yorker. Oldden's work doesn't come to the market all that often and this type of sudden mass sale only serves to commodify the art and overwhelm the potential buyers.

Oldden delighted in drawing all manner of complex things. The settings are exotic. In this group we see submarines in two drawings, Indian elephants, and a Middle Eastern oil refinery.

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Two of the cartoons have captions . . . 

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"Ahoy there, fishing boat!"                          "Hold them until we find her other lens."

. . . and two do not.Image may be NSFW.
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Versos with New York stamps

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Richard Oldden eBay listing ended May 5, 2023 https://www.ebay.com/itm/374663675198?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

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Richard Oldden eBay item description

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Richard Oldden eBay bid history After seven days, two bidders place two last minute bids four seconds apart. The last bid gets it all.

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Note:  If you can find any of these cartoons somewhere out there on the printed page, please send word.

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