Sotheby's to sell rare painting of Pooh

E.H. Shepard's "Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Pot" is expected to sell for $29,000 to $43,500 at a November Sotheby's auction

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Sotheby's plans to auction the only known oil painting of Winnie-the-Pooh by his creator, E.H. Shepard, in a November 16 sale of children's and illustrated books.

The auction house said Tuesday it expected the large oval oil painting, which depicts Pooh standing outside his house with a pot of honey, to bring in $29,000 to $43,500.

The portrait apparently was painted in the 1930s for a teashop in Bristol called "Pooh Corner," Sotheby's said.

E.H. Shepard met the author of the Pooh stories, A.A. Milne, in the 1900s when they were both working for Punch, a British satirical magazine.

In 1924 Milne wrote a collection of verse for children featuring a rather tubby bear, illustrated by Shepard, and Pooh was born.

Sotheby's will also auction on Thursday a selection of Beatrix Potter letters, which were written to her shepherd Joseph Moscrop between 1926 and 1943.

The auction house said it expected the archive to go for $26,100 to $31,900.

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