Vintage Forth Bridge railway poster sells for £12,600

By Michael Alexander

October 28 2022, 6:00pm

Rare vintage poster of Forth Bridge sells for £12,600. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

An iconic vintage railway poster featuring the Forth Bridge has sold at auction for £12,600.

The striking Art Deco-style poster was designed in 1928 by Henry George Gawthorn (1879-1941), who worked as a commercial artist for LNER and also as a fine artist.

The poster, which had expected to fetch between £6,000 and £8,000, was the centrepiece of a sale of Scottish scenes, as previewed by The Courier.

Rare vintage poster of Forth Bridge sold for £12,600. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

The sale, carried out live by fine art and design auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull on Thursday October 27, in partnership with poster specialists Tomkinson Churcher, also saw a railway poster featuring the Fife coast sell for £1,638.

The 40 x 25 inch lithographic poster was created around 1950 by Frank Henry Mason (1875 – 1965).

1950 poster of the Fife Coast by Frank Henry Mason sold for £1,638. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

What about other posters?

Other items in the sale included a 1955 poster of Royal Deeside by Kenneth Steel (1906 to 1970) which sold for £1512.

1955 poster of the Royal Deeside (Balmoral Castle) by Kenneth Steel sold for £1,512. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

A 1949 poster of the Scots Guards marching along Princes Street in Edinburgh by Lance Cattermole (1898 to 1992) sold for £1,260.

1949 poster of The Scots Guard marching on Princes Street in Edinburgh by Lance Cattermole sold for £1,260. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

Meanwhile, a 1934 poster of Edinburgh by Henry Rushbury (1889 to 1968) sold for £3,024.

A poster dated 1934 of the centre of Edinburgh by Henry Rushbury sold for £3,024. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

In all, 51 travel and vintage posters were up for sale, commissioned from a range of artists between 1934 and 1950.

The rare lithographic posters from the heyday of travelling by train were produced to encourage people to take a train to tourist hotspots such as the Fife coast, Bute, Royal Deeside and the Trossachs.

‘Enormous interest’ in sale

Nicolette Tomkinson, from Tomkinson Churcher, specialist consultants to Lyon & Turnbull, said: “Thursday’s Vintage Travel Poster auction was 90% sold with enormous interest in all travel posters.

1950 poster depicting Rothesay on the Isle of Bute by Frank Henry Mason. Image: Lyon & Turnbull

“The Scottish travel posters were particularly well received, and we were delighted with the top lot, Gawthorn’s stunning Art Deco image “Over the Forth to the North” which realised £12,600.

“There was also competitive bidding for signed Andy Warhol posters which had excellent provenance, with The Tate Gallery 1971, featuring Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Munro image selling for £6,048.”