Arabic version: بيع دمى آردمان في مزاد لدعم تطوير صناع الأفلام

According to ABC News, original puppets from Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and other Aardman productions have been sold at a London auction to support talent development initiatives at the British claymation studio. The sale also marked Aardman’s 50th anniversary, with pieces from nearly every production in its history offered to bidders.

The highest-priced item was a Feathers McGraw puppet used in the 2024 film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The stop-motion model of the Wallace & Gromit nemesis sold for £56,700 ($106,884). Made of clay over a fully jointed internal metal armature, the puppet was among the auction’s notable items.

A screen-matched Wallace stop-motion puppet sold for £50,400. Other lots included a Gromit puppet and puppets of Morph and Chas, the early Aardman duo made by co-founder Sir Peter Lord. Morph first appeared in 1977. Bidders could also buy hand-drawn art depicting a visit to Aardman Studios in Bristol.

The auction highlighted the demanding process behind claymation. Aardman’s 2005 film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit took five years to make. Creator Nick Park has said some of the studio’s larger films involve crews of up to 300 people shooting on 25 sets at once. One Gromit model was described as being made from silicone with malleable arms for repositioning during animation, while bidders were warned that the clay puppets were not toys and could be damaged by extreme temperatures.

Money raised from the sale will support bursaries at the Aardman Academy training facility, skills-development programs and opportunities for emerging filmmakers. Aardman said the initiatives are intended to broaden access to animation careers and nurture the next generation of creative talent. The studio’s latest feature, Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, is its first project to reach cinemas since it cut 20 jobs from its workforce in 2024.