Rare Peter Pan antique sells for £60,000 at Edinburgh auction

A rare bronze sculpture of children's favourite Peter Pan has sold for £60,000 '“ double its estimated value.

Lyon and Turnbull's Hannah Willetts with a model of Sir George Frampton's bronze sculpture of JM Barrie's Peter Pan. Picture: PA

The figure is a smaller version of the Peter Pan statue which has attracted visitors to London’s Kensington Gardens since it appeared there overnight in 1912.

Author JM Barrie himself commissioned the work by renowned sculptor Sir George Frampton.

Valued at between £20,000 to £30,000, the figure cast in 1920 sold for double the upper estimate at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh yesterday.

The anonymous seller said: “We are sorry to part with this beautiful statue – it has been in my family for nearly 100 years.

“We hope that it will be as loved by its new owners as much as it was by us.”

Barrie first used Peter Pan as a character in The Little White Bird (1902) and returned to him in a later stage play before expanding the story to produce the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy.

John Mackie, head of decorative arts at Lyon and Turnbull, said: “This famous statue is held in great affection all over the world.”