A pair of figures of famous bare-knuckle pugilists offered by RTS Antiques for £11,000.
In Obsession: The Myrna & Benson Schkolne Collection of Early English Pottery, Myrna Schkolne wrote of her difficulty in finding these well-known but rare models.
As serendipity would have it, Staffordshire figure specialist Alan Sturrock and Damon Remans-Turner of RTS Antiques got in touch with news of a very recent acquisition at a regional auction, a pair of near identical figures, probably made in the Portobello area of Scotland c.1820.
These 9in (23cm) models, capture the essence of an epic 1810 contest, imbued with racial and patriotic undercurrents, that enthralled Georgian society.
The price of the figures is £11,000. “They are so good and rare they simply have to be worth top dollar,” says Sturrock.
