At least a quarter of the paintings sold in an auction of 19th century Melton-born artist Thomas Churchyard’s work are making their way back to his home county.
Before the sale, at Dominic Winter Auctioneers, near Cirencester, the collection’s 87-year-old owner, Eric Charlesworth, who trained to be a priest in Woodbridge and was rector of Kenton, hoped some of the work would be bought for public display by Suffolk bidders.
The sale of 15 watercolours and paintings of local scenes made a total of £21,280
Auctioneer Chris Albury said: “There was a lot of interest in these and prices were strong.
“We had telephone, internet, commission and room bidders. In the end there were six UK buyers – four in Suffolk, one from London and one from Gloucestershire.
“All but one of the pictures were quite small works and the prices achieved very high in comparison to similar works sold in recent years.”
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