People do love their dogs don't they? Celebrities from Paris Hilton all the way back to Charles Dickens have been known to carry dogs around with them everywhere, and this love has sometimes transferred through into collectibles, especially art.
At Bonhams this has been turned to a great success in the form of a $1.2m sale for their Dogs in Show & Field fine art sale on February 15.
Like greyhounds out of the traps, two paintings by William H H Trood were the top lots at Bonhams' salesroom in New York.
Top dog was Hounds in a Kennel, which does a wonderful job of creating the impression of individual characters in the faces of the hounds. The painting nearly tripled its $60,000-80,000 listing to sell to an American phone bidder for $212,500.
 William Trood's Hounds in a Kennel |
A similarly impressive result was achieved for the other Trood painting. Déjeuner presents a homely and sentimental scene of puppies round a bowl of milk being watched by other animals.
The sizeable painting had several bidders fighting over it and again it nearly tripled its pre-sale estimate of $50,000-70,000) to sell for $194,500.
One group of people who've particularly loved dogs are members of the British Royal family, up to and including Queen Elizabeth II (now celebrating her Diamond Jubilee) and her corgis.
 Reuben Ward Binks's Black Retriever with Duck |
Reuben Ward Binks specialised in painting dogs, and was a favourite of royal dog lovers. A collection of works by the Bolton artist, who painted for King Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI amongst others, sold for a total of $76,000.
"We are very pleased with the results of the sale. The Troods were great examples of his work and two of the best to have come on the market for some time and this was recognised by the prices they fetched." commented Sam Travers of Bonhams 19th Century Pictures department.
"The same goes for Reuben Ward Binks' works which also sold particularly well."
