Original Wallace & Gromit puppets auctioned to raise funds for 'emerging filmmakers'

The original Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Feathers McGraw puppets have been auctioned to help fund "opportunities for emerging filmmakers".

The auction in London on Thursday, local time, featured pieces from nearly every Aardman production across the British claymation company's 50-year history.

The top-bid item was a puppet of the infamous Wallace & Gromit nemesis, Feathers McGraw.

The stop-motion puppet was used in 2024's Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and fetched £56,700 ($106,884).

Other highlights include a screen-matched Wallace stop-motion puppet, which sold for £50,400, a Gromit puppet, and the early Aardman duo, Morph and Chas.

The Morph and Chas puppets were made by Aardman co-founder Sir Peter Lord, with Morph first appearing in 1977.

Claymation films, a painstaking process, can take years to create.

The 2005 film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit took five years.

Aardman creator Nick Park has said some of the studio's bigger films now include "a crew of up to 300 shooting on 25 sets at once".

One Gromit puppet up for auction on Thursday hinted at this meticulous process.

The Gromit is characterised as "the very apogee of 'man's best friend' and "crafted from silicone with malleable arms to facilitate repositioning during animation".

It was made clear the items were not toys but clay puppets, and that "exposure to extreme temperatures may cause damage".

Bidders could also get their hands on hand-drawn art of a visit to Aardman Studios in Bristol.

The funds raised will go to talent development initiatives across Aardman.

This includes bursaries at the Aardman Academy's training facility, skills development programs, and "opportunities for emerging filmmakers, helping to broaden access to careers in animation and nurture the next generation of creative talent".

In 2024, Aardman cut 20 jobs from the 400-plus-strong workforce after posting a $US720,000 ($1.02 million) loss for the year, according to Deadline.

The studio's latest feature film Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is the first Aardman project to make it to cinemas since the downsizing, after 2024's Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was released straight to streaming.