Oor Wullie sketch auctioned off

The classic sketch of Oor Wullie was drawn in 1959

An original sketch of Oor Wullie has been sold for £950 at auction.

The signed drawing by Wullie's creator Dudley D Watkins went for about 10 times the estimated price of £80-£120 when it was sold in Dundee.

Watkins drew the picture in 1959 when a young fan asked him to sign her autograph book.

It is rare for Watkins' work to come up for sale as the majority of his original art done for The Sunday Post is held by the publishers DC Thomson.

The seller of the sketch, Marion Anderson, obtained the sketch after her mother had found out Watkins was taking part in a Sunday school prize giving ceremony at a small mission hall in Dundee.

Quick sketch

"She sent me along with my autograph book and after the prize giving Dudley D signed his autograph, of which I was very proud," said Mrs Anderson, who lives in Monifieth.

The interest we had has been quite phenomenal Steven Dewar Auctioneer

She added: "It took him seconds to do the sketch - he did it in no time at all just while I was standing beside him."

Steven Dewar, the Dundee auctioneer who put the sketch under the hammer, said he was taken aback when he first saw it.

Mr Dewar also admitted to being "quietly confident" that it would sell for a good price and that it sold in just 26 seconds.

He said: "I've never sold anything like this before. It was a difficult thing to value. The interest we had has been quite phenomenal."

Local interest

Mr Dewar explained: "Because DC Thomson artwork very rarely, if ever, comes on the market, we had a lot of interest from local people wanting a local souvenir.

"It's something we've all grown up with and something we remember from our early days.

"When you think of Dundee you think of DC Thomson, Oor Wullie and the Broons."

Watkins, who joined DC Thomson in the 1920s, started drawing Oor Wullie in 1937, with the cartoon strip carrying his famous signature from 1946 onwards.