LONDON – A bucolic wooden bridge in the English countryside that the author of Winnie the Pooh Adventures sold for over $179,000 (equivalent to approximately R$986,000) at an auction in the UK, more than double the estimate.
James Rylands, an expert at British auction house Summers Place Auctions, said he “managed to sell a piece of literary history.”
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The bridge was estimated to cost between £40,000 and £60,000, but the sales result exceeded all expectations, reaching £131,625.
Alan Alexander Milne, a pot-bellied teddy bear breeder, adored this bridge in Ashdown Forest in southeast England. He and his son Christopher Robin Milne, who inspired Pooh’s younger friend, played on the bridge a game of his invention called “Poohsticks”: each player threw a stick against the stream and the stick of whoever came under the bridge first. Defeated ..
The bridge built around 1907, known as the Possingford Bridge, became famous after being included in this classic children’s book. In 1979, it was officially named Poohsticks Bridge.
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After being traced and damaged by thousands of tourists, it was demolished in 1999 and replaced with financial support from the Disney Corporation.
The original bridge was put up for sale after it was fully restored: the missing parts were built with local oak.
The new owner, Lord de la Warr, plans to keep it on his farm in Buckhurst Park in Withham, south-east England.
“I hope that many children (and adults) can admire the original bridge that inspired one of the most famous games played by children in the UK and other countries,” the new owner said in a statement.
The sale coincided with the centenary of the teddy bear given to Christopher Robin Milne on his first birthday in 1921, and which inspired the character Winnie the Pooh.
