The reason? They were by Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912), the artist, explorer and doctor who famously accompanied captains Scott and Oates on the fateful Terra Nova expedition.
The works had a series of old labels on the back detailing their history.
First up, a 3¾ x 2½in (10 x 6cm) watercolour of three indistinct figures walking in the snow was offered as a single lot estimated at £100-200.
A handwritten label on the verso stated Watercolour sketch by Dr Edward Adrian Wilson on Capt Scott’s expedition to the S.Pole 1910-12.
This indicated that it may have been part of the collection of studies Wilson had packed up and sent back to his wife in Cheltenham just days before he set off from the Cape Evans base camp on the long trip to the South Pole.
Wilson was among Scott’s party of five who perished on the return journey.
The sketch in Surrey also had a clipping of the catalogue entry from when it had seemingly appeared at Sotheby’s West Sussex in June 1986 (estimated at £60-100). Here at Lawrences of Bletchingley 34 years later, it was bid to £2800.
Earlier drawings
One of two pen and ink Antarctic landscapes by Dr Edward Wilson - £2800 at Lawrences of Bletchingley.
The following lot at the sale on December 8-10 comprised two earlier pen and ink Antarctic landscapes which presumably were executed when Wilson was the junior surgeon and expedition artist for the Discovery expedition with Shackleton and Scott from 1901-04.
Both were signed and measured 5¾ x 7¼in (15 x 18cm), and a label to the verso of one of them indicated it had sold at Sotheby’s back in March 1983.
Titled Smoke Columns of Mount Erebus from the South West and Castle Rock from Arrival Heights, they again attracted strong interest and sold at £2800 against a £200-400 pitch.
