Posters celebrating the effort of Britain and its allies in the Second World War have become familiar images in Western popular culture. But how was the war reported from the perspective of the other side?
20 January 2022
THE CHURCHILL OCTOPUS
c.1941, a Vichy France World War II propaganda poster
£4,000-5,000
Our Out of the Ordinary sale on 15-16 February includes a chromolithograph propaganda poster published in occupied Paris by the Vichy government in 1942.
Signed with a monogram of the artist ‘SPK’, it depicts Winston Churchill as an octopus with its tentacles representing British military intervention in the Middle East and Africa.
The text reads Confiance... Ses Amputations Se Poursuivent Methodiquement (Have Faith – The Systematic Amputations Are Continuing).
The desire was to spotlight the areas of conflict that existed between Vichy French forces and the British and the Free French. The cutting of these tentacles reflects the thwarting of British actions in Norway, Germany, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Mers el Kebir and Dakar by Axis forces.
This well known but rare image is guided at £4,000-5,000.
We are delighted to be offering a collection of Roberto Rigon's stylised animal works in our first Design auction of 2026, which takes place on Tuesday 27 January.
24 November 2025
Sworders are delighted to present the David Rapley Collection – a lifelong assemblage of fine silver, gold, and decorative arts.
At a recent valuation day in our Stansted Mountfitchet salerooms, two ceramics were brought in that made our specialists sit up and take interest.
24 November 2025