Sixty years after a green curmudgeon from Mount Crumpit first tried to steal Christmas, one of the most significant assemblies of artwork from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas is coming to auction at Heritage. The celebration of that enduring holiday classic serves as the centerpiece of Heritage’s June 19-21 The Art of Everything Cool – Vol. VIII Signature Auction, a three-day event featuring more than 1,200 lots spanning the most beloved worlds in animation, comic art and pop culture.

Leading the way is an extraordinary collection of original artwork from Chuck Jones’ landmark 1966 television adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, including what is believed to be the largest group of original hand-painted Master and Key Master backgrounds ever brought to market from the special. The offering also includes rare production cels, animation drawings, layouts, storyboards, long-sold-out limited editions and important material from the Chuck Jones Family Archive.

“Everything Cool is exactly what the title promises,” says Jim Lentz, Heritage’s Vice President of Animation & Anime Art. “For three full days, collectors will find more than 1,200 lots spanning the most beloved characters and franchises ever created. From the Grinch and Bugs Bunny to Charlie Brown, Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Simpsons, this auction is packed with the characters and kind of material that rarely appears in one place at one time.”

Lots of Warner Bros. and Chuck Jones art

Among the standout Grinch offerings is a remarkable production cel setup featuring the Grinch and his loyal dog Max paired with a matching Key Master background from the unforgettable sequence in which the Grinch outfits Max with a makeshift reindeer antler before beginning his raid on Whoville. Another highlight is an extraordinary presentation featuring a pair of production cels, matching Key Master backgrounds and an original layout drawing depicting one of the special’s most memorable cliffhanger moments.

Few figures loom larger in animation history than the Academy Award-winning director whose imagination helped shape generations of viewers through both the Grinch and Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes characters. Heritage’s June auction features nearly 500 lots devoted to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew and other stars of the Warner Bros. universe, making it one of the most substantial Looney Tunes offerings ever assembled.

The collection is especially significant because original vintage Warner Bros. production art remains notoriously scarce. Much of the studio’s animation archive was reportedly discarded decades ago, making surviving production cels, drawings and backgrounds among the most sought-after artifacts in animation collecting. In response to that scarcity, Jones helped pioneer the animation-art market through limited-edition releases based on his original drawings, many of which are represented in this sale.

Highlights include a rare production cel from the 1959 classic Baton Bunny signed by Jones and featuring Bugs Bunny conducting an orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. Another standout is an original Chuck Jones preliminary drawing created for a Looney Tunes library-promotion poster, depicting a whole chorus line of the beloved Warner Bros. characters carrying books and wearing academic mortarboards.

The auction also showcases the animation process itself through a remarkable sequence of four signed production celsfeaturing Wile E. Coyote from the 1994 theatrical short Chariots of Fur. For collectors of Jones’ later artistic legacy, a rare artist’s proof of the celebrated Duck Dodgers Group limited edition traces the origins of the Chuck Jones Art Program, which helped introduce generations of collectors to animation art at a time when original production material had become increasingly difficult to obtain.

Vintage production art also shines throughout the section, including a rare original cel of Bugs Bunny from the 1956 Chuck Jones short Barbary Coast Bunny, while additional signed production artwork and limited editions featuring Duck Dodgers, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew and other fan favorites illustrate the extraordinary breadth of Jones’ creative legacy.

“This auction is a celebration of the characters and stories that have made generations of people smile,” Lentz says. “Whether you’re chasing a museum-level Grinch background, a rare Bugs Bunny production cel, original Schulz artwork or a piece of animation history from The Simpsons or Rocky and Bullwinkle, there’s something here for every collector. That’s what makes this one of the most exciting Everything Cool auctions we’ve ever presented.”

The Art of Everything Cool – Vol. VIII Signature Auction takes place June 19-21 and is open for bidding now at HA.com.