The craze for Harry Potter and the film franchise’s memorabilia knows no bounds. Recently at an auction, the cover art of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, which was the first book by author JK Rowling in the series, was sold at a record price.

This was the original watercolour illustration for the cover art. It has notably become the most expensive piece of Harry Potter-related memorabilia ever sold at an auction, reports the WION.

The auction happened at Sotheby’s in New York. The cover art was on the debut edition of the 1997 novel which later became films and series and garnered huge popularity. The cover art has now been sold for $1.9 million. It was not an easy bid as there ensued a four-way bidding battle that lasted almost 10 minutes for the same.

The original cover art for the book was painted by artist Thomas Taylor. It depicts Harry Potter on Platform 9¾, awaiting his first ride on the Hogwarts Express. Taylor completed the painting in just two days using concentrated watercolours on cold-pressed watercolour paper with black pencil. He was paid $650 for his painting.

Among other record holders at world auctions from the Harry Potter is the edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It was the previous record-holder. It sold for $421,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas in 2021. After the sale, Sotheby’s noted that it was the “highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on an item of any Harry Potter-related work.”