Rare Tintin cover fetches record-breaking 1.3 mln euros

London: A rare 1932 hand-drawn cover of a Tintin comic book by Belgian writer and illustrator Herge has fetched a record 1.3 million euros at an auction.

The 'Tintin in America' cover broke the record, set by the same item in 2008, when it sold for 764,000 euros.

The cover shows the young adventurer Tintin, dressed as a cowboy and sitting with his dog, Snowy, as axe-wielding American Indians creep up on them.

The cover shows the young adventurer Tintin, dressed as a cowboy and sitting with his dog, Snowy, as axe-wielding American Indians creep up on them.

The drawing was bought by a private collector at an auction in Paris on Saturday for 1.3 million euros (USD 1.6 million), the BBC reported.

The Indian ink and gouache drawing work is one of only five remaining such works by Herge - real name Georges Remi - who died in 1983. Only two of those are in private hands. The buyer is anonymous but he was represented at the auction by a friend identified only as Didier, the report said.

Saturday's sale was part of a rare larger sale of Tintin memorabilia, reportedly including draft sketches of Tintin and a copy of Explorers on the Moon, signed by the first men to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and fellow astronaut Michael Collins.

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