Boxing art brings in £10,000 purse for Oxfam shop

A Beryl Cook painting given to a Yorkshire charity shop by an anonymous donor has raised thousands of pounds at auction.

The distinctive artwork, named Sam Kierley's Boxing Booth, was wrapped when it was handed over to a volunteer at the Oxfam shop in Skipton by a man who suggested it should be auctioned but then left without leaving his name.

And when it went under the hammer at Bonham's in London earlier this month, it fetched 13,200, raising more than 10,000 for the charity.

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A private collector bought the oil painting, which features Cook's characteristically buxom ladies ogling two fairground boxers, in the 20th Century British Art sale on November 17.

An Oxfam spokesman said: "We just want to thank the person who donated it because it was an amazing gesture they made donating the picture that they knew was extremely valuable. This is going to make a huge difference in the work that Oxfam does around the world."

Matthew Bradbury, director of 20th century British and Irish Art at Bonhams London, said the price probably would have been higher had it been signed by the Cornish artist, who died in 2008.

"I do not think Sam Kierley was a professional boxer," he added. "It may have just been one of Beryl Cook's quirks that she introduced into her paintings. We have sold many works by her which introduce names which are perfectly fictional.

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"It was an incredibly humorous painting and it was exhibited in the Plymouth Arts Centre in 1975 in a large Beryl Cook exhibition. We handle quite a lot of her work here and it is the first time we have seen the boxing element in her painting – that is not to say there are not others."

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