Fake or Folklore, Cottingley Fairy Photos Still Captivate Collectors
A rare complete set of the Cottingley Fairies photographs, once championed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, fluttered past estimates at a September auction in England.
It was already unusual when a pair of Cottingley Fairies photos came to auction in July. Now, barely a month later, a full set sold at the same auction house, John Taylors, in Louth, Lincolnshire, England, on September 2.
The full set passed its high estimate to sell for £3,100, or about $4,154. James Laverack, a director at John Taylors, told BBC News that it is extremely rare to see any prints of the Cottingley Fairies photos for sale because “most have been destroyed.” He said, “Nobody knows how many were produced.”
The set belonged to a family in Devon who realized what they had after seeing the Cottingley Fairies photos on an episode of Antiques Roadshow.
The complete group consists of five sepia photographs, each marked with a title: “A. Alice and the fairies,” “B. Iris and the gnome,” “C. Alice and leaping fairy,” “D. Fairy offering flowers to Iris,” and “E. Fairy sunbath, elves, etc.” Each photo is copyrighted and dated 1917 or 1920.
They were taken by two young cousins, 16-year-old Elsie Wright and 9-year-old Frances Griffiths, in the village of Cottingley. Frances had claimed to see fairies in the family’s garden, so Elsie borrowed a camera to get some proof. The resulting photos were launched into fame when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, prolific author, spiritualist, and amateur photographer, published them in The Strand Magazine as evidence of the supernatural.
In an interview in 1983, Elsie and Frances revealed that they had staged the photographs with paper cutouts of fairies held in place by hatpins—or at least most of them. Frances claimed that one of them, listed as “E. Fairy sunbath, elves, etc,” had not been staged. According to Laverack, this photo may have been an unintentional double exposure.
The photographs may not prove fairies exist, but they are an interesting example of early photo manipulation, a piece of spiritualist history, and simply part of a good story. Even if the fairies are fake, the fascination is real. As John Taylors proved twice, so is the value.
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