Back in December, Nicholson's unsigned 1967 oil and pastel on paper still life, Nest of Rock Roses sold at an impressive £17,500 at the Carlisle rooms of H&H King.
Four months later, similar price levels were maintained when two unseen and unexhibited flower studies in oil by Nicholson were included in Penrith Farmers' & Kidd's (15% buyer's premium) April 6 sale in the nearby town of Penrith.
Entered by an elderly local vendor, these flower studies were both signed and dated works which had remained totally untouched since being bought in the early 1960s.
Best preserved of these was the 1960 portrait-format oil on board, right, Elder Bush, measuring 2ft 2in x 23in (69 x 59cm), which retained an old label on the verso with the title, the address Bankhead, Brampton, Cumberland and the price, £30.
Estimated at £5000-8000, this close-up study of elderflowers sold to the London trade at £17,000.
The same sum was bid by a collector for a similarly estimated, but slightly mildew-stained, 151/2in x 231/2in (40 x 60cm) canvas of purple poppies and cow parsley, signed and dated 1963 on the back of the stretcher.
