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Philip Zec’s ‘By Night Train to Scotland’ original poster is expected to teach top end at $15,500-$23,300. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.

Philip Zec’s ‘Night Train’ is flagship of Onslows’ poster auction Dec. 10

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

Philip Zec’s ‘By Night Train to Scotland’ original poster is expected to teach top end at $15,500-$23,300. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
Philip Zec’s ‘By Night Train to Scotland’ original poster is expected to teach top end at $15,500-$23,300. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
DORSET, England – A marvelous Philip Zec travel poster will be offered for sale by Onslows Auctioneers on Dec. 10. The rare modernist work by Zec, published in 1932 was his only design for the forward thinking London and North Eastern Railway Co., which employed some of the finest commercial designers of the day.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for the auction, which will begin at 2 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern).

The design is in first place to break Onslows’ own record price for a British railway poster. By Night Train to Scotland showing the Flying Scotsman at speed on an atmospheric moonlit night, it is estimated to sell for between 10,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds ($15,500-$23,300). The current record for a poster from this genre is for the LNER poster The Night Scotsman by Russian émigré Alexander Alexeieff, which was sold by Onslow’s in 1996 for 10,000 pounds.

The poster is one from a superb collection that recently came to the market from an estate. The sale includes some of the finest railway posters Onslows has offered in recent years. The auction also includes posters designed by the foremost designers from the golden age of travel; notable among these are Edward McKnight Kauffer, Tom Purvis, Norman Wilkinson, Fortunino Matania and Charles Pears.

The posters are in excellent condition have been conserved on linen.

Some of the other classic railway posters in the auction:

  • London Midland & Scottish Railway original poster, 40 x 50 inches. Estimate $12,400-$15,500. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
  • A classic poster published circa 1930 – 40x 50 inches. Estimate $6,200-$7,800. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
  • Cheshire Lines Railway original poster, circa 1933, 40 x 50 inches. Estimate $9,300-$12,400. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
  • Lili Rethi (1896-1969) rare original poster, circa 1938, 40 x 50 inches, Estimate $6,200-$7,800. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.
  • Chas Pears (1873-1958) Great Western Railway original poster circa 1930 40 x 50 ins Estimate $3,500-$5,400. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.

The auction also includes a good selection for foreign travel, British advertising, London Underground, and Home Front Propaganda from World War II. Image courtesy of Onslows Auctioneers.

For details contact Patrick Bogue at Onslows Auctioneers: telephone +44 1258 488838 or by email onslow.auctions@btinternet.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

 

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.