An original drawing by Belgian cartoonist and Tintin creator Hergé sold for €2.5 million ($2,854,250), nearly breaking the record for the most expensive piece of comic art, reports the AFP. The drawing titled Shooting Star, is the original illustration used for the basis of the front cover of the 1942 comic album of Tintin et L’étoile Mysterieuse (Tintin and the Shooting Star), the tenth volume in the series The Adventures of Tintin.

The work went on sale last week at the Brussels Antiques and Fine Art Fair (BRAFA) by Huberty & Breyne, a Brussels-based gallery that specializes in comic book art (bande dessinées).

Marina David of Huberty & Breyne said the work was bought by a European investor but declined to disclose the identity of the buyer, saying only “the buyer is neither Belgian nor French.”

The illustration features Tintin and his dog Snowy standing on a meteorite that fell in the ocean; they are looking with great surprise at a giant mushroom.

Tintin, who turned 86 this past January, has seen a surge in value recently.

A plate by Hergé broke the record for a piece of comic art selling for €2,519,000 ($3,434,908) last May at Artcurial. According to the AFP, Hergé sold nearly 230 million copies of Tintin in his lifetime, cementing the character’s lasting popularity.

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