The 'grubby framed' famous sketch of the pair was discovered in the cellar of Christopher Foyle - former chairman of Foyles bookshops.
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00:00 I'm Chris Albury, I'm an auctioneer and senior valuer with Dominic Winter Auctioneers in
00:16 South Surney, Gloucestershire.
00:18 What we have here is an original pen and ink drawing of Winnie the Pooh and Piglets by
00:25 Ernest H. Sheppard.
00:42 This was actually drawn in 1958.
00:45 The original one, which was used in the book, was sold last year in December for $220,000.
00:54 We think this is rather special and the only other one you might find to buy anywhere and
00:59 we reckon £20,000 to £30,000.
01:11 This was found in an old tea towel in a cellar drawer in a very fabulous house called Beely
01:21 Abbey, a 12th century abbey near Malden in Essex, the family home of the Foyle family.
01:27 William Foyle, the founder's library, was sold by Christie's in 2001 for some £12
01:35 million.
01:36 This really is a continuation of that sale in that it belongs to Christopher Foyle, William's
01:41 grandson, which includes many of the books that weren't sold by Christie's.
01:48 But for whatever reason, this little treasure was in dusty cellar-taped frame in an old
01:55 tea towel in a cellar drawer.
02:09 My hunch about this illustration, which is, as we see, dated 1958 by Sheppard, is that
02:16 it may have been done at the time of one of Christina Foyle's literary lunches that Foyle's
02:23 used to run from the 1930s into the early 2000s and were a famous literary lunch where
02:31 authors and other guest speakers would come and talk.
02:34 Bertrand Russell, John Lennon, everyone turned up and paying guests would raise money.
02:41 And I wouldn't be surprised if Sheppard drew this on one such occasion when he was the
02:46 invited party and perhaps Christina didn't think much of it and just chucked it in the
02:52 back of a drawer and it got forgotten.
02:53 [END]