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Row over Potter's Museum reaches High Court
• Former owners sue Bonhams for not accepting Damien Hirst's £1m offer
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By
The Minx, Contributing editor
Thursday,
6 December, 2007
Mention Potter's Museum, in Bramber Sussex, to adults of a certain age and you will generally get a squealed response. The macabre Victorian collection of 6000 stuffed animals, by Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter, many dressed as characters in nursery rhymes and arranged in tableaux, was a place of magic to thousands of children throughout the 20th century.
Sold by Potter's descendants the early 1970s, the collection eventually ended up at Jamaica Inn in Cornwall until it was auctioned off in 2003.
A late bid by artist Damien Hirst to buy the entire collection for £1m shortly before the auction was rejected by auction house Bonhams. Bonhams are now being sued for compensation by former owners Mr and Mrs Watts after the final auction made around £500,000 of which the Watts received £336,000.
According to Mr Watts, their contract with Bonhams said that "Bonhams would consider every serious offer from potential clients to acquire the whole collection and keep us informed of such interest. This did not happen."
The Watts only seem to have found out about Hirst's offer after an article appeared in the papers on the day of the sale in which he said his offer, two weeks beforehand, had been turned down "because the catalogues had been printed", even though he agreed to recompense Bonhams for the cost of printing the catalogues.
The Watts have now sued Bonhams for £572,000 in the High Court to make up the balance they would have received if the sale to Hirst had gone ahead.
Hirst himself has refused to comment. A spokesman for Bonhams said the issue was best decided by the courts.
Full Story by Gary Cleland in the Daily Telegraph
A rather macabre collection of 6,000 stuffed animals, which the artist Damien Hirst tried to buy for £1million, could land an international auction house in the High Court.
The menagerie, which includes kittens dressed in Victorian wedding outfits and squirrels smoking and gambling, was put up for sale by John and Wendy Watts in the hope it would be kept intact.
But the auction house reportedly told the artist's business manager that his £1million approach, two weeks before the sale, was too late as catalogues had been sent out.
Mr and Mrs Watts, who have been in dispute with Bonhams since the auction in 2003, believe they have no option but to go to the High Court after a failed mediation this summer.
We are bitterly disappointed with the approach and attitude adopted by Bonhams relating to the sale of the Potter collection," said Mr Watts.
"We have tried to discuss this point amicably with Bonhams, but with no joy. They leave us with no option but to pursue our complaint through the courts." After costs were deducted, Mr and Mrs Watts received £336,000 from the sale. They have instructed their solicitors to claim for £571,932.
Their claim alleges Bonhams was in breach of its contractual obligations and its duties as agents by informing Hirst's business manager, Frank Dunphy, that it was too late to make a bid.
It also claims Bonhams failed to achieve the best price for the collection by failing to gather the items into appropriate lots. Many of the lots, the couple claim, contained items that bore no resemblance to each other.
The collection, which first opened in 1861, was put together by a self-taught taxidermist called Walter Potter.
It featured thousands of Victorian stuffed animals, some arranged in bizarre tableaux. The Kittens' Wedding, which uses 20 kittens in Victorian wedding costumes, fetched £18,000 at the auction.
The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, made up of 98 specimens of British birds, sold for £23,500 with a reserve price of £7,000.
The Squirrels' Club, with 18 European red squirrels gambling, smoking and drinking, fetched £5,500.
Mr Watts displayed the collection for 17 years at the Jamaica Inn, made famous by the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name.
In a newspaper article published on the first day of the sale in 2003, Hirst revealed he had offered to pay for the cost of the catalogues as well as the collection.
He said: "I have always wanted a museum like this, but now the collection will go to auction to be sold in separate pieces."I have offered £1million and to pay for the costs of the auctioneer's catalogues - just for them to take it off the market and keep the collection intact - but apparently the auction has to go ahead. It's a tragedy."
Hirst refused to discuss the case.
A spokesman for Bonhams said: "Any issues outstanding in relation to the sale are best considered by the appropriate courts which will give to both sides the benefit of a fair and properly considered trial in accordance with well-established procedures."
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