Pottery model of a kookaburra by Maud O’Reilly – £2600 at Mitchells.
In 1926 she exhibited an 11in (27cm) slip-cast figure of a kookaburra, similar to this one shown above, at The Royal Academy.
A number of versions are known including that sold by Bonhams in Sydney in 2011 for Aus$14,400 (£7323). The example pictured here, incised M O’Reilly 1926, has had some professional restoration to the beak but is in otherwise good condition.
Offered for sale at Mitchells (22% buyer’s premium) in Cockermouth on March 18, it took £2600 (estimate £2000-3000) from an internet bidder.
