The six-page 36-panel storyboard by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks is for the 1928 Plane Crazy cartoon.

The Florida-based International Museum of Cartoon Art offered the Mickey drawings and hundreds of other items in an effort to repay nearly $2m (�1.4m) of debt, the majority of which is owed to a bank.

Bidding for the storyboard began at $400,000 (�278,570) at the auction, held at the New York Historial Society, reaching the $800,000 (�557,140) minimum, but the sale was put on hold.

Confusion

Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's Auction House, said there was "some confusion" over who the bidder was, so "it was advisable to stop the process and see what was going on".

Mr Ettinger said Guernsey's staff attempted to contact the person who made the second bid of $700,000 ($487,724), with little success.

The company is now "working very hard on an exciting resolution that will be to everyone's benefit," Mr Ettinger said.

It is hoped the Mickey Mouse drawing will be offered for sale again in the next few days.

The auction was carried out live, by telephone, and over the internet by auction site Leftbid.com.

In all, more than 600 lots, some donated, some from the museum's vast collection of approximately 200,000 drawings, were auctioned.

Many of the drawings sold for less than hoped, and many more were unsold. Guernsey's officials have not yet calculated the total income generated by the auction.

Disappointment

Museum founder Mort Walker, creator of the Beetle Bailey comic strip, was disappointed with the lack of revenue generated.