Sapphire and Steel Art For Sale

By John Freeman on October 28, 2009

A page of Sapphire and Steel art by Arthur Ranson from Look-In, the “Junior TV Times” of its day, is up for sale on eBay.

Inspired by the mysterious ITV drama created by P.J. Hammond, Sapphire and Steel appeared in 76 issues of Look-In and it looks as though the page on sale may be the final one published featuring strong likenesses of actors David McCallum and Joanna Lumley who were the series stars.

The strip itself was written by the late Angus P. Allan and, like many Look-In strips, beautifully illustrated by Arthur Ranson.

The art (pictured above, final published version below) measures 16 x 22 inch (41 x 56 cm) and sees Sapphire and Steel defeat another strange entity trying to distort time.

Appropriately for this ‘scare story’, the auction closes on 31st October.

The art is the latest piece from the IPC Archive to be auctioned on eBay by Blase Books, part of a huge collection the company sold off some years ago. (There is of course, some controversy about this, as some artists have argues the physical art is their property, not that of the company).

Other art on offer at present include a page of Janus Stark, drawn by Solano Lopez; a 1965 Steel Claw page by Jesus Blasco; a Spider page by Reg Bunn; and several pages of art from various girls comics.

• View the Sapphire and Steel item on eBay

• More British comic art on sale on eBay from Blase Books

• More about the Sapphire and Steel Look-In Strip

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.