Abstract:
An original painting of a North American promotional flyer used to promote the 1981 "Donkey Kong" arcade cabinet was sold at Landry Pop Auctions for nearly $330,000, more than twice the estimated final bid.
This original painting was created by illustrator Leslie Carbaga. It includes Donkey Kong throwing a barrel under the scaffolding, a trapped woman, and a bearded overalls figure preparing for a fight. The work belongs to the early visual material of "Donkey Kong" and is also closely related to the formation of Mario's original image. It has since been used numerous times in Donkey Kong-related merchandise and influenced the portrayal of Mario and Donkey Kong in early media, including the animated show Saturday Supercade.
The original manuscript comes from the collection of former Nintendo advertising executive Donna Darbous. She recalled that this batch of materials might have been thrown into the trash when Nintendo cleaned out the storage room and made room for office space. Realizing their value, she took them home and kept them until recently.
The Nintendo materials up for auction also include the Santa Mario figure used in early company Christmas cards, Disney-themed drawings of early licensed Game & Watch works, the "Punch Free" promotional gloves signed by Mike Tyson, as well as rare "black box" NES games, other promotional materials and internal documents. This batch of commercial promotional materials that might have been cleared away has been preserved as Nintendo's early gaming history.
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