Ask John: Anime Production Cels

Question:
I recently took an interest in collecting Ah! My Goddess cels and it got me to thinking this, how do the companies typically distribute the production cels once they’re finished with it? Are they given to the artists, do the companies keep them and auction them off? How are they made available to public? I’m sure each series varies as to how this is done, but I was wondering in general what the most common procedure was, or more so with how the Ah! My Goddess cels were distributed. Thanks! I hope you can help give me a little insight on this. Also, would you happen to know where I could find some original cels for Ah! My Goddess? I looked through nearly all of the links at Animation regarding cels and could only find a couple of them.

Answer:
Generally, the Japanese studios sell off or give away or throw out their used cels. They are then usually picked up by Japanese private collectors, or Japanese cel stores like Anime World Star. From there, the cels filter down to US retailers and collectors. Older cels, like A!MG are usually very difficult and/or very expensive to find/when you find them. I was recently in Japan, and even over there good cels from A!MG ran the equivalent of $500 US each. I wish you the best of luck in your search, though.