Original Donkey Kong Arcade Art Set for Auction After Being Rescued from Nintendo Trash

A rare piece of video game history is hitting the auction block, and it owes its survival to a dumpster dive. As reported by VGC, Donna Darbous, a former advertising manager at Nintendo, is auctioning off a massive collection of company memorabilia, headlined by the original arcade flyer artwork for the iconic Donkey Kong.

Saved from the trash

According to Darbous, the Donkey Kong artwork was headed for the bin during a storage room clean-out intended to make space for Nintendo’s growing office needs. Darbous told the New York Times, as cited by VGC, that she rescued the envelopes containing the art from the dumpster and received permission from her supervisor to keep them. The pieces, painted by artist Leslie Cabarga, include a background image and an acetate sheet featuring Jumpman, Donkey Kong, Pauline, and the game’s famous barrels. Notably, this represents the first public illustration of Mario under his original name, Jumpman.

A collection of gaming history

The artwork is just one highlight of a 49-piece auction titled “Jumpman: The Beginning of an Icon,” currently hosted by Landry Pop. The collection includes 36 items from Darbous’s time at the company, alongside various graded black-box NES titles. Among the other treasures up for bids are production art for the original Super Mario Bros., 1985 Nintendo of America Christmas card art, and individual artwork for Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Donald Game & Watch handhelds, which are estimated to fetch between $8,000 and $12,000 each. The Donkey Kong artwork alone has an estimated value of $100,000 to $150,000, with current bidding reaching $80,000 at the time of the VGC report.

Why it matters

For collectors and gaming historians, this auction offers a rare glimpse into the early, scrappy days of Nintendo of America before the brand became a global powerhouse. Items salvaged from employee clean-outs like this are incredibly rare and provide tangible evidence of how gaming marketing was handled in the 1980s.

Fans interested in these pieces of history have until October 28 to place their bids. While these items are physically located in the auction house, they represent a significant era of Nintendo’s history that shaped the industry for players worldwide, regardless of regional location. Keep an eye on the final hammer price, as it will likely set a new benchmark for the valuation of early Nintendo marketing artifacts.