Artwork by Peter Firmin, co-creator of Bagpuss, including paintings of The Clangers and Basil Brush, has sold for more than £400,000. Some 500 paintings, books and collectibles by the British puppeteer went up for auction, with every lot sold during a two-day event held by Canterbury Auction Galleries.
Record-breaking auction for Firmin's art
The sale was the largest collection of Firmin's art ever to come to auction, with most pieces selling well over estimated values. One of the highest-selling pieces was a signed painting of Basil Brush chatting to a mole, which sold for £6,000 after being estimated at £120-£160.
A number of colour paintings of The Clangers, the knitted alien species, were also featured, including the illustration Tiny Clanger In The Iron Chicken's Nest, which sold for £3,900 against an estimate of £200-£300.
Other notable lots
Artwork from the children's animated series Noggin the Nog also went under the hammer. An illustration of villain Nogbad the Bad firing a cannon at the Ice Dragon fetched £4,200, well over its estimated £200-£300.
Other works included a mechanical model of the character Gabriel the Toad, which sold for £4,200, and a painting of Bagpuss with his friends Emily and Professor Yaffle the woodpecker, which sold for £1,600.
Susanna Woodgate, who curated the sale, said: "It was wonderful to see real fans managing to secure a keepsake of something they loved, or perhaps to share with their own children and grandchildren."
Firmin's legacy
Firmin, who died in 2018, co-founded the production company Smallfilms with puppeteer Oliver Postgate, creating a string of animated children's TV shows. Their first big hit was in 1959 with Ivor The Engine, about a Welsh steam locomotive, with the first hand-drawn comic strip selling at the auction for £940.
Many of Firmin's beloved characters, including the original Bagpuss and Clangers puppets, are on permanent display at The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge museum in Canterbury. In 2014, Firmin won a Bafta Children's Special Award for his contribution to children's media.
