ROBERT CHINNERY COLLECTION
Alongside a varied range of antique and good modern taxidermy, with examples by leading names such as Rowland Ward, Peter Spicer, Van Ingen & Van Ingen and Carl Church, the Natural History and Taxidermy Sale on 13th November will include the Robert Chinnery Collection.
Robert Chinnery (b.1962) developed a fledgling interest in natural history during his childhood. His special interest was for stuffed birds, the kind that could be found on the shelves and of the numerous antique and second-hand shops that every town once possessed. He acquired his first specimen at the age of 7 - a stuffed Cuckoo that he still owns to this day.
Robert’s assessment of the state of British taxidermy during the 1980s led him to conclude that a body of research was required to augment his burgeoning collection. The opportunities to document the lives of Victorian and Edwardian taxidermists and their practices were not going to get any easier, and to this end Robert devoted many years to collecting and documenting the work of the famous firm of “Peter Spicer & Sons” of Royal Leamington Spa (Robert’s hometown) and subsequently privately published the limited-edition volume “A Record of Spicer’s” in 2001. An early signed copy of the book is now on offer in the sale, along with other books on taxidermy.
Robert’s collecting eventually turned into dealing, and his company “The Victorian Taxidermy Co. Ltd” went on to purchase the old workshops of Peter Spicer & Sons - the company that had so enthralled him for years - and he later published a catalogue of remarkable stock. Many grand cases, including a full-mount lion by Rowland Ward from Eton school, have gone through his hands plus several extinct birds including a fine pair of Huias, an Eskimo curlew by Rowland Ward and a passenger pigeon along with many rarities.
Robert has never lost his enthusiasm for Victorian taxidermy, so when in 2021 he and his new wife Rachel decided to convert the ground floor of their 16th Century home on the high street in Chipping Campden in the north Cotswolds into a high-end antique shop “Kendall House Antiques”, it was little wonder that taxidermy featured prominently. However, with the way in which antiques are bought and sold changing, it was hard for a traditional antique shop to survive, so Robert, with a heavy heart and forever the traditionalist, decided to close the shop - but one thing will never change, his love of fine art taxidermy.
Highlights of the collection include a 1901 Cased Rare Golden Carp (Cyprinus carpio) by John Cooper & Sons (estimate: £800-1,200 all figures exclude buyer’s premium), a Wall Cased Waxwing, Green-headed Tanager and Baltimore Oriole made circa 1880-1897 by Rowland Ward & Co. (estimate: £600-800), an unusual Cased White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) by Rowland Ward Ltd. (estimate: £280-380), and a Cased Pair of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata), made circa 1921 by Peter Spicer & Son’s (estimate: £800-1,200). One of the most interesting lots in the sale is a Pair of Late Victorian Pallas’s Sand Grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), made in 1888 by Rowland Ward Ltd (estimate: £600-800). Pallas’s Sandgrouse have an intriguing history in Britain; native to parts of Africa and Asia, they are almost never seen here. However, in a mystery of migration, over the course of three or four years in the late Victorian era, notably in 1888, a great many sandgrouse migrated to Britain. The reason behind this strange change in patterns has never been discovered. Also in the sale is the original “The Victorian Taxidermy Co Ltd” sign that hung in Peter Spicer & Sons New Street address in Leamington Spa (estimate: £500-700).
WALTER POTTER
Also on offer in the sale is a further good private collection of mixed bird and animal specimens, many by John Burton, Natural Craft Taxidermy, Gloucestershire, and four lots by Walter Potter of Bramber, Sussex, which were once included in Bonhams' 2003 auction of The Contents of Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities held at Jamaica Inn, Cornwall. The auction comprised of 613 Lots of the interesting and World-famous Mr Walter Potter’s collection, previously housed within his very own museum at Bramber, Sussex.
Walter Potter (1835-1918) was a very well-known member of the village, a churchwarden and one of the Parish overseers. As a boy he taught himself how to preserve birds and animals and began his collection soon after leaving school at the age of 14.
Many weird and interesting gifts were added to the collection, particularly freaks from the local farmers and souvenirs from travellers all over the world.
The auction held by Bonhams caused quite a stir amongst collectors worldwide, with most of the lots ending up overseas and many of the large anthropomorphic tableaus exceeded their upper estimates by quite some margin.
This important collection was held in such high regard a last-ditch campaign was launched to try and save the collection as a whole, dozens of letters were written to museums and celebrities with a particular interest in Victorian England, including Lord Lloyd-Webber, historian Adam Hart-Davis, as well as JK Rowling, Vic Reeves, Stephen Fry, and Damien Hirst, but alas none came to the rescue.
Now on offer from the Walter Potter sale are a Victorian Spaniel Puppy (Canis lupus familiaris) (estimate: £200-300), a Pair of Victorian Brown Rats (Rattus norvegicus)
(estimate: £80-120), a Victorian Family Group of White Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) (estimate: £120-180), and a Victorian Group of Animals and Lizards (estimate: £80-120).
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