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This is an extremely rare original plaster production animator's maquette of Hyacinth Hippo from Fantasia (1940). Production maquettes are used by animators during production as a three dimensional reference tool, assisting them in viewing a character's design from multiple angles. Only a few maquettes are made for each character, as they are time consuming to produce and only usually needed by lead animators, directors and other supervisory animators. Early maquettes, such as Hyacinth were made of plaster, as it was a standard of the time for three dimensional sculpture. Due to the nature of plaster, many vintage production maquettes were damaged and destroyed throughout the years as they tend to be fragile, making surviving vintage maquettes even more rare. This Hyacinth maquette measure 7.5" x 4" x 4" and is in good condition with chips to the ears and tail, and a large crack in the base which has not fully removed the cracked piece, but has left it attached only around the wire armature under the foot. The underside of the base has the studio's "Return to Character Model Dept" stamp and a number 3, which would have been the studio's reference as to which crew member had this maquette. This is a relic of the earliest days of the Disney Studio and an absolute gem to behold.The quoted shipping cost for this piece will included a large box with plenty of packaging to ensure safe delivery.
