Rare Cased Oilbirds by Rowland Ward Sell for £7,000

A Cased Pair of Oilbirds by Rowland Ward sold for £7,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in Tennants Auctioneers’ Natural History and Taxidermy Sale on 2^nd September. Oilbirds are found in northern areas of South America, where colonies nest in caves, feeding nocturnally on fruits of the oil palm and tropical laurels navigating using echolocation. Though not a rare bird, a period specimen mounted by the renowned taxidermist Rowland Ward is very rare indeed and attracted much interest from collectors.

Further highlights of the period taxidermy in the sale included a circa 1900-1930 Bengal Tiger Skin Rug by Cuthbertson & Harper of Calcutta, which sold for £3,200 and a 1933 Indian Leopard Skin Rug by Van Ingen and Van Ingen of Mysore, which sold for £2,500. A large Diorama of Tropical Birds made circa 1840-60 by John Leadbeater & Son of Golden Square, London, sold well, too, at £4,000. Selling well above estimate at £380 was an unusual collection of Grebe Cabinet Study Skins from the late 19^th/early 20^th century, thought to have been prepared by James Gardener of the Museum of Natural History, Holborn. Several of the specimen were still secured in their original unopened newspaper wrappings, with papers bearing the dates 1875 and 1889.

Amongst good modern taxidermy and items of natural history interest in the sale was a Cased Re-Creation of a Dodo, made circa 2013 by Carl Church of Pickering, North Yorkshire, which sold for £10,000. Church has only made five such recreations since 2006, having taken measurements from a real dodo skeleton. Also by Carl Church was a Cased Snowy Owl of superb quality, which sold for £4,000, whilst a modern, captive bred European Eagle Owl by Brian Lancaster of Bedale sold for £3,200.

Finally, a rare and unusual cased Ocean Sunfish or Common Mola sold for £1,300. Ocean sunfish usually inhabit tropical and sub-tropical waters, and very occasionally travel in the Gulf Stream to the West of the UK. However, in 1995 this juvenile specimen was caught in the North Sea off the North East Coast at Hartlepool by the trawler ‘The Amanda’, before it was displayed in a Darlington fishmongers. The rare specimen was later mounted and cased by A.J. Armitstead of Darlington.

The sale saw a total hammer price of £147,380 for the 368 lots and achieved a 92% sold rate.

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