Tintin struck again on 18 May in Liège, at an auction organised by BD Enchères. Original plate 40 from the album The Castafiore Emeraldestimated at between 120,000 and 150,000 euros, reached 460,000. However, the way it was presented to the media raises a number of questions...

The lot offered at the sale in Liège not only consisted of the original of plate 40 of the Castafiore's jewels This was accompanied by a set of three letters from Hergé and his studios. The first two are from the period when Tintin's father was working on the story of the Jewelleryin 1961. He had made contact with Father Rupert - whose real name was André Fontaine - a man who took his role as national chaplain to fairground workers and travellers very seriously. "In fact, I'm preparing a new "Tintin and Snowy" story in which a tribe of Gypsies will play an episodic role - and I want my drawings to portray them as faithfully as possible.Hergé wrote to him. Reassured as to the artist's intentions, the cleric agreed to lend several photographs and provide valuable information. The album The Castafiore Emerald was published in 1963.

The third letter attached to the Jewellery at the BD Enchères sale dates from 29 October 1982. Father Rupert died in May of that year. This time it was Annemie De Moor, secretary at Studios Hergé, who was responding to André Fontaine, the namesake of the deceased priest. He wanted to buy an original by Hergé in memory of his godfather. Three proposals were made, including "the original plate no. 40 (in black and white)".without any financial compensation.

In the preface to a recent edition of Castafiore's jewels (newspaper version Tintin2023), we learn that the artist actually kept his word and parted with a plate, which he had previously embellished with this dedication: "To André Fontaine, in memory of his godfather. Strange: the plate presented on 18 May in Liège does indeed bear Hergé's signature... but there's no mailing!

Driven by curiosity, I did a bit of research, remembering two previous auctions where originals that had belonged - or so it was claimed - to Rupert's father or his nephew were in question.

The first event dates back to Sunday 10 May 2009. The town of Namur was hosting the official Tintin Festival (which no longer exists), and Rops took the opportunity to organise a sale in collaboration with Moulinsart. Among the items for sale was the original - not signed! - of plate 3 of the Castafiore's jewelsaccompanied by the corresponding pencil sketch. While the sale catalogue did not mention the name of its former owner, the daily newspaper did. La Capitale on 14 May 2009. In it, a journalist revealed that "Hergé gave this plate to a priest in Verviers".. His source? A spokesman for the Fondation Hergé, who told him: "It would not be surprising if the author had given it to Brother Rupert to thank him. But even if this is the most likely hypothesis, nothing is verifiable, as both men took the secret with them. The assumption had become certainty under the pen of the reporter from La Capitale ! Today, we know that Hergé did not offer any original extracts from the Castafiore's jewels to Father Rupert himself.

The second auction took place on Saturday 22 November 2014. Another place, another house, another original: it's plate 2 of the Jewellery which this time came under the hammer of Artcurial in Paris, in a sale devoted to the comics as a whole. This plate is decorated with an autograph by Hergé : "To André Fontaine, in loving memory of his godfather, Hergé. Nov. 1982."

It's a done deal: in the end, it's the original of plate 2 of the Castafiore's jewelsand not plate 40, which Hergé gave to Father Rupert's godson! Why this last-minute change? That's the end of my investigation, but during it I came across another Hergé specialist. Tintin who has investigated further. I won't reveal anything until his article is published in a few months' time. Hergé's universe has certainly not finished offering us its share of mysteries and discoveries...