This year’s Autumn Auction delivered a series of standout moments, with particularly strong bidding across the Sketch for Survival (SFS) collections and several results that mark an important milestone for the initiative.
In total, eight artworks achieved hammer prices of £1,000 or more, split evenly across the two collections: four from On the Brink and four from Sketch for Survival.
The defining moment came when Louise Hancox’s sea otter artwork, Praying for Kelp, achieved a hammer price of £5,500, making it the highest-selling Sketch for Survival competition piece to date.
To put this achievement in context:
- The previous highest hammer price for a Sketch for Survival competition piece was £1,500, achieved by Dave Porter’s exquisite cheetah cubs artwork in the 2020 auction.
- Close behind was Alison Jenkins’ impressive lion portrait, which graced our billboard on Waterloo Bridge in 2024. The original artwork sold for £1,400 in the auction.
- The highest hammer price ever achieved for a Sketch for Survival artwork of any kind remains Joni Mitchell’s jaguar sketch, part of our Celebrity Sketch for Survival collection, which reached an extraordinary £17,000 in 2021.
You may notice that all three lots above feature beautiful big cats.
This is the first time we have seen such diversity in the highest-selling lots: sea otter, red panda, Tasmanian devil, zebra. Details follow.
Louise’s sea otter was not alone in drawing impressive bids. Other four-figure artworks this year included Charlotte Cook’s wonderful dazzle of zebra at £1,000. This was followed by a flurry of exceptional results underlining the strength of this year’s auction:
- Maxine Davies’ red panda reached £1,800
- Rachel Harris’ Tasmanian devil followed closely behind at £1,600
We received wonderful feedback from the exhibitions at both Nature in Art and the Oxo Gallery. Although we highlight the star lots above, it is important to remember that the collections work as a whole, raising awareness of species and habitats under threat, as well as generating funds for frontline conservation. Each and every piece has a part to play no matter how they sell at the end of the period.
We are still in the process of receiving final payments and dispatching artworks. However, if all payments come in as expected, the combined collections will achieve a total selling price of just under £48,000. Sketch for Survival, including Juniors, Patrons and Focus for Survival, is set to account for the larger share this year, totalling a fantastic £36,635.
We have also received a number of enquiries about the unsold lots, in particular Lot 14, the stunning cardboard pangolin created by Josh Gluckstein for On the Brink. This unique piece has plenty of admirers but is still looking for a home and remains available at the starting bid of £3,200. Josh very generously offered to donate the work 100% so we would love to find it a good home. Please do get in touch if you would like more information about this or any of the remaining unsold works.
Our sincere thanks go to all the artists, bidders and supporters who made this auction such a success.
We will be making transfers to our nominated projects from the Campaign Fund over the Christmas and New Year period, and look forward to sharing further updates. The Autumn Auction is always a powerful reminder of what art can achieve when we all come together.
Artwork shown at top – Praying for Kelp by Louise Hancox
