Important Notice
++Absentee bids, and telephone bid requests are currently being accepted++
Register to bid online with no surcharge, through the new Summers Place Live online bidding platform (BP & VAT apply)
Click on Register in the website header
Lot 66

A Great Auk replica model

66cm by 44cm

Estimate: £300 - £500
Bidding ended. Lot is unsold.

These model Great Auks were for many years in the collection of David Wilson, the gentleman who saved the celebrated collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt from being destroyed. Through Mr. Wilson's intervention the Hewitt collection was donated to the British Trust for Ornithology, an institution that subsequently sold it to various parties to raise funds for its cause. However, Mr. Wilson retained several items for himself, including a model of the long extinct Great Auk which was recently sold at Dominic Winter. The Hewitt collection was famous for his obsession with Great Auks and he once owned no less than thirteen Great Auk eggs and four stuffed Great Auks, in addition to the recently sold feathered model. It is thought that these two additional models were made for Hewitt for unknown reasons, probably simply due to his Great Auk mania. 


Taxidermy, Natural History

Read more

Our website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best possible browsing experience.

Accept Read more