Hake's sells Koko the Klown production art for $42,000 Geppi-owned Hake's Americana & Collectibles has privately sold an original Koko the Klown "Out of the Inkwell" artwork for $42,000.
There were only four Koko Sunday pages that were published, the Hake’s Americana example being the only known surviving original piece. No daily strips were ever published. This Sunday depicts the classic image of Koko the Klown coming out of the inkwell. In the twelve panel story, Koko emerges from the inkwell only to see a mouse run by, intriguing him. The next panel shows a cat chasing after the mouse, further intriguing Koko. This is followed by a dog chasing after the cat, which causes Koko to give chase to all three of them, only to have the dog turn around and growl, leading the mouse, cat and dog to reverse their order and chase Koko back into the ink well, all of them leaping into the ink. The inkwell stopper fastens in last panel.
Dated December 1, 1934, the art was credited to Max Flesicher, Koko’s creator himself, but was actually rendered in India ink by Bud Counihan, artist famous for both this series and the subsequent Betty Boop newspaper strip. It has been double-matted and placed in an ornately carved frame for the anonymous buyer.
