Editorial Cartoonists Raise $5,600-plus in Online Auction

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By: Dave Astor The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists raised $5,651.60 in a 10-day online auction that ended yesterday, according to Clay Bennett, the AAEC's immediate past president.

"We wanted to get between $5,000 and $6,000, so we made our goal," said Bennett, The Christian Science Monitor/Christian Science Monitor News Service editorial cartoonist who organized the auction of 30 editorial cartoons -- 16 of them by Pulitzer Prize winners. A cartoon by Tom Toles of The Washington Post and Universal Press Syndicate brought in the highest bid: $306.

The auction raised money for the "Cartoons for the Classroom" program, which provides educators with free lesson plans featuring editorial cartoons. "The AAEC is proud of that program, and wants to see it flourish and grow," Bennett told E&P today.

After Toles, the next highest bids were submitted for cartoons by Tony Auth of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Universal ($305), Mike Luckovich of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Creators Syndicate (also $305), and Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher of CartoonArts International/New York Times Syndicate ($301).

Bennett said 21 of the cartoons were originals and nine were signed prints. (In an age where cartoons may be computer-created, originals don't always exist.) The auction organizer added that 23 of the 30 cartoons received bids over the minimum required to be sold.

What's with the 60 cents in $5,651.60? "That's eBay," replied Bennett, noting that some people get very specific with their bids.

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