The work by Thomas Taylor, who was just 23 years old in 1997 when he painted the iconic image of the young boy with the lightning bolt scar and the round glasses, had been expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000 at Sotheby's
The original watercolor illustration for the first edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"—the book that introduced the world to the young bespectacled wizard —sold for $1.9 million on Wednesday.
The artwork becomes "the most valuable Harry Potter item ever sold at auction," auction house Sotheby's said in a statement.