A fairly unassuming playbill bought in an Epping charity shop for £5 sold for £4,750 in our auction of Fine Interiors on Wednesday 30 June after it was discovered to be a rare theatrical advertisement printed on the H.M.S Resolute during its Arctic expedition in the 1850s.
The unnamed buyer took a liking to the framed piece after seeing another shopper inspect it and put it down again. Thinking that the silk looked to have some age and intrigued by its charm, they conducted some research of their own and found a similar example had sold at Christie’s in 2004 for over £2,000. Excited by its prospects, they brought it in to us and entered it for sale in our June Fine Interiors auction.
The playbill, advertising performances of ‘The Taming the Shrew’ and ‘The Two Bonnycastles’, is a fascinating insight into the lives of the ship's crew. To alleviate their boredom during the winter months berthed at Dealy Island off the south shore of Melville Island, Canada, the men would put on performances complete with costumes and advertising playbills such as this one. After the 1853 season advertised on this playbill, the HMS Resolute became stuck in ice and had to be abandoned, later to be found by American whalers and sailed back to Britain to be presented to Queen Victoria in 1856. As a gesture of thanks, timbers from the ship were gifted to US President, Rutherford B Hayes in 1880, who used them to make the Resolute Desk which is still located in the White House's Oval Office today.
After significant interest from the UK and America, a successful UK trade buyer secured the lot for £4,750 including fees.
"It's remarkable what still turns up in Charity shops. They really would be better taking professional advice before selling their art and antiques. However, this was a great find for our vendor who knew we have a good track record selling items from the so-called Heroic Age of Polar exploration," said Sworders Chairman Guy Schooling.
Art dealer, curator, gallerist and author James Birch has spent more than four decades championing artists and staging groundbreaking exhibitions. This October, approximately 300 works from his private collection come to auction at Sworders, tracing a remarkable career from the King’s Road to Moscow and beyond.
Day One of our autumn Modern & Contemporary Art auction will be celebrate The James Birch Collection, offering bidders an exciting opportunity to purchase works from Birch's private collection.
27 August 2026
A finely crafted rouleau vase, produced in the Kangxi period, comes to auction this November as a highlight in our Asian & Islamic Art sale.
25 August 2026