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Image: LandryPop

A former Nintendo employee has listed a series of auctions featuring a selection of treasures pulled from their personal collection - the centrepiece of which is original artwork used to promote the 1981 arcade classic Donkey Kong.

Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, (and spotted by VGC), former Nintendo Advertising Manager Donna Darbous says the valuable piece was rescued from a dumpster following a storage room clearout at Nintendo of America. Darbous recovered several envelopes containing the legendary piece of gaming history and, after receiving permission from her supervisor, added the art to her own collection of artefacts from Nintendo's golden age.

"This is where it all started", notes Darbous. "This is when the public first laid eyes on Mario."

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Image: LandryPop

The multi-layered piece - measuring around 19" x 15" - was painted by New York author and artist Leslie Cabarga, whose work has been featured in Marvel, Dark Horse, and National Lampoon comics and magazines. The Donkey Kong art is particularly notable as being among the first publicly available images of not only the big ape himself, but also Nintendo damsel-in-distress-turned-city-mayor Pauline, and, of course, Mario (then known simply as "Jumpman).

The vivid, timeless, and surprisingly well-preserved art will be displayed at this weekend's New York Comic-Con (NYCC) this weekend and is currently up for auction on LandryPop, where it is estimated to close at somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 USD. I'll take two, thanks.

The Donkey Kong piece is just one of several incredible items Darbous has listed for auction. Elsewhere on LandryPop, listings are now livenow live for vintage art featuring the Super Mario Bros., a gorgeous Goomba conceptual piece, an old corporate Christmas card, and this ABSOLUTELY SICK "Nintendo Rocks the '90s" satin bomber jacket. Also up for grabs are concept pieces for the Nintendo/Disney Game & Watch titles, which will no doubt also fetch a pretty penny.

So the lesson here is to keep hold of your corporate Christmas cards, or to rummage through your workplace bins, I guess.

Anyway, I gotta go. I'm definitely bidding on that satin jacket. Because, much like Nintendo, I rock the '90s.