The artwork is now the most expensive Harry Potter piece ever sold

An original watercolor painting has become the most expensive Harry Potter item ever sold, selling for $1.9 million (£1.5 million) at a US auction.

The artwork for the first edition of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has sold for more than three times its expected price.

It was first auctioned in 2001, before the book series was completed, for £85,750 (about $108,000 at current exchange rates).

“This is truly the first depiction of Harry and the Wizarding World,” said Kalika Sands of Sotheby’s.

The artwork was expected to sell for between $400,000 and $600,000, which Sotheby’s said was the highest pre-sale estimate for a Harry Potter-related work.

The bidding process between the four parties took about 10 minutes to end on Wednesday. The identity of the buyer was not revealed.

The artist behind the illustration, Thomas Taylor, was just 23 years old in 1997 when he created the iconic image of Harry Potter standing in front of the Hogwarts Express – the train that would lead the bespectacled young wizard into the Wizarding World.

It was executed using concentrated watercolor with black pencil lines and took two days to finish.

Taylor, who grew up in Wales, was one of the first people to read the manuscript of the original Harry Potter book, which went on to sell millions of copies and spawn a profitable franchise including films and theme parks.

Sands said the difference in auction price between 2001, when only four of the seven books in the series were published, now reflects the popularity of Rowling’s creations.

“Over the past decades, it has been amazing to see not only the end of Harry’s story, but also how the Harry Potter film series took off, and in that time, new generations have come to appreciate Harry and his journey as well.”