A rare and original LS Lowry drawing which was won in a raffle for a £1 has sold for a whopping £41,000 at a Nantwich auction.
The famous artist’s drawing “A Harassed Mother” went under the hammer at Wilson55 on Market Street in Nantwich last week.
And they confirmed today that a bidder in the North of England fought off international competition to land the drawing for £41,000.
Stephen Sparrow, of Wilson55, said: “I’m delighted to say the drawing won by Professor Orville-Thomas in a raffle for £1 in 1971 went on to sell in our specialist Northern Art Sale 55 years later for a hammer price of £41,000.
“This followed strong international bidding with the eventual winner fighting off interest from America and elsewhere around the globe.
“The drawing is staying in the UK and sold to a private collector in the North of England with strong ties to Salford.”
It was a previously unknown drawing and it was sold on the 50th anniversary year of Lowry’s death.
Initially it was estimated it would fetch as much as £35,000.
The work is an original pencil drawing which was formerly owned by Professor W.J. Orville Thomas, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Salford.
He was a key figure in the acquisition of art for both the University and the Salford art community, and he won “A Harassed Mother” in a raffle on 21st January 1971.
Contemporary press cuttings reveal two prominent Manchester artists donated works as competition prizes at a cheese and wine evening held to raise funds for the improvement of the L.S. Lowry Room at Salford Corporation Art Gallery.
This charitable act by Lowry is previously unrecorded and offers rare insight into an aspect of the artist’s life that is not widely documented.
The drawing depicts three cheerful children alongside a visibly worried mother – Lowry’s only difficulty, it seems,
was deciding on a title.
That was ultimately provided by Mrs Joyce Shaw, wife of Salford Art Gallery Director Stanley Shaw, who aptly named the work A Harassed Mother.
I’m No Art Connoisseur but I doubt Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Co would have been too impressed?🤣