A selection of iconic vintage railway posters featuring tourist destinations across Scotland – including the Fife coast – are expected to raise thousands of pounds in an online auction.
The sale will be carried out live by fine art and design auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull on Thursday October 27, in partnership with poster specialists Tomkinson Churcher.
The rare lithographic posters from the heyday of travelling by train were produced to encourage people to take a train to tourist hotspots such as the Fife coast, Bute, Royal Deeside and the Trossachs.
Commissioned artists
The colourful images were commissioned from a range of artists between 1934 and 1950.
A striking Art Deco-style poster of the Forth Bridge, which forms the centrepiece of the sale of Scottish scenes, is expected to fetch between £6,000 and £8,000.
It was designed in 1928 by Henry George Gawthorn (1879-1941), who worked as a commercial artist for LNER and also as a fine artist.
Gawthorn regularly exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy in London.
His bold depiction of the Forth Bridge marks an important milestone in bridge design and construction when railways came to dominate long-distance travel.
Warm nostalgia
Sophie Churcher from Tomkinson Churcher, specialist consultants to Lyon & Turnbull, said: “The posters being offered for auction evoke a warm nostalgia and represent a time when travelling by train was considered a real adventure.
“They are much sought after as a result and we expect them to be popular with collectors eager to own a piece of transport history.
“With a starting price of £400 for some of them, it will be interesting to see what they fetch.”
The posters being auctioned include: c.1950 poster of the Fife Coast by Frank Henry Mason; c. 1950 poster of Loch Katrine and Ben Venue by Jack Merriott; c. 1955 poster of the Royal Deeside (Balmoral Castle) by Kenneth Steel; c. 1950 poster depicting Rothesay on the Isle of Bute by Frank Henry Mason; c.1949 poster of The Scots Guard marching on Princes Street in Edinburgh by Lance Cattermole and a poster dated 1934 of the centre of Edinburgh by Henry Rushbury.
Prestigious firm to hold railway posters auction
Operating since 1826, Lyon & Turnbull is one of the UK’s premier fine art and antiques auctioneers.
The company’s galleries in London and Glasgow complement the historic Georgian headquarters and main saleroom in Edinburgh.
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