BRUSSELS – (AFP)

The daughter of French painter and screenwriter Albert Uderzo has filed a complaint seeking to block the sale of the cover of “Asterix and Cleopatra” due to doubts about the circumstances surrounding the seller’s purchase. on Saturday.

The original cover design for “Asterix and Cleopatra” is set to go on sale at an auction organized by Maison Maison in Brussels on December 10.

The map, which dates back to 1963, is estimated to be worth between 400 and 500 thousand euros. It is offered for sale by someone who claims to have owned it for over 50 years. In late November, Maison confirmed in a statement that Uderzo introduced him during a dinner with friends.

Sylvie Uderzo’s lawyer, Arli Rislan, explained to AFP that “the goal is to prevent the sale as soon as possible and to buy time to investigate the circumstances in which this drawing was obtained and to recover it in the long term,” confirming a report by Le Figaro newspaper. .

Breach of trust or theft has been reported.

Albert Uderzo signed the drawings he provided, but the lawyer pointed out that this sketch did not have his signature.

According to Rislan, the auction house informed Sylvie Uderzo and her mother about the sale with a “very vague account” of the circumstances surrounding the seller’s father getting the job.

Maison Belgium’s general director, Arno de Bartz, told AFP that he had been informed of the complaint, but had not yet received it, and admitted that the sale was now uncertain.

Albert Uderzo gave the map to his friend, whose son now wants to sell it. “There are many drawings that were donated without signing,” he asserted, stressing that these original works had no value at the time.

The movie “Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra” (2002) was a big hit in the cinema with about 25 million tickets worldwide, which was initially a collection of comedy stories.