Winnie-the-Pooh Collection Auctions For Over $100,000

A treasure trove of original Winnie-the-Pooh manuscripts, drawings, and letters sold for $108,000 on January 16, 2025. This price was much higher than the $18,600 estimated by UK-based Fieldings Auctioneers. Two-thirds of the 1920s-era collection was purchased by British fans. The rest went to buyers in the United States.

"We are thrilled and slightly emotional after handling this wonderful and unique archive,” said Fieldings director Will Farmer. “Selling this collection, which hasn’t been seen for nearly 100 years, has been an absolute career highlight."

The collection had belonged to Leslie Smith, the founder of British publishing company Cressrelles. His son, Simon, found it in 2023 while clearing out his deceased father's attic. The archive contained letters discussing the editing and creation process of Winnie-the-Pooh. These letters were exchanged between the author A.A. Milne, his illustrator E.H. Shepard, and their publisher, Frederick Muller.

Simon also found outlines of poems written by Milne and early sketches for the cover of The Christopher Robin Birthday Book. There were also drawings for Christmas cards that included Pooh's friends, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. Simon believes his father got the collection when he bought a publishing company owned by Muller.

“We were just clearing out the attic and found a plastic carrier bag full of letters,” Simon told the BBC. “We started going through them and found many signatures we couldn’t even decipher. Then, we found the [signature of] A.A. Milne. We were a bit gobsmacked, to say the least.”

Simon and his family decided to sell the items so they could be appreciated by those who truly value them. They plan to use the proceeds to establish a center dedicated to studying Milne’s work.

Resources: Artnet.com, theGuardian.com, Smithsonianmag.com