Attenborough sale silent star lots

Silent film legend, Charlie Chaplin proved his ongoing star quality at Bonhams’ ‘Richard Attenborough – A Life Both Sides of the Camera’ sale this week, when two original film posters commanded the highest hammer prices out of the 470-strong lots.

A poster for The Kid soared three times over its estimate to achieve a hammer price of £37,500. The poster from the 1921 film just edged ahead of the previous Lot 433, a poster of A Dog’s Life from 1918, which  achieved £32,500.

Works of art from Attenborough’s collection also attracted interest from buyers, with Sir Max Beerbohm’s Oscar Wilde portrait fetching £27,500; Mary Newcomb’s Landscape, Suffolk, at £23,750 and Alan Lowndes’ Great Portwood Street making £18,750. All achieved more than their pre-sale estimates.

Memorabilia from Attenborough’s life in the film industry also caught the imagination of buyers, with a wooden clapperboard from the director’s 1982 Ghandi achieving £15,000, while a replica prop cane from the blockbuster Jurassic Park, where Attenborough played the character John Hammond, made £13.750.