Infamous fake fairy pictures fetch thousands at auction

By Charlie Fenton

Photographs of one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th century have sold for £2,600 at auction – more than twice their estimated worth.

Pictures of the Cottingley Fairies were taken in 1917 by Elsie Wright, 16, and her nine-year-old cousin Frances Griffiths.

The two girls believed in fairies and set out to prove their existence.

Little did they know their practical joke would stir such controversy and fool such eminent figures as Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Two of the five photos were saved by David Whittaker, the son of Frances's best friend Mary Anderson, who had given her a set at school.

Whittaker said his mother had spent her life believing in fairies but wanted to throw them out when Elsie confessed in 1983 that they were fake and made out of paper cut-outs and hatpins.

More than a century later, two original images of the hoax, have gone under the hammer.

They were expected to sell for £1,000 but smashed their estimate when they sold for £2,600 at John Taylor Auctioneers in Louth, Lincs., on Tuesday (29/7).

A spokesperson said: "The lot had almost doubled pre-sale expectations.

"The interest in it has been absolutely phenomenal.

"The value was in the fact they (the images) were given to Mary by Frances.

"Other originals have sold for around £500 in the past, but it was the provenance which sold them."

A photo of Mary with Frances Griffiths, alongside the extensive Cottingley Fairies archive were also sold in the single lot.

Whittaker, of Salfleetby, Lincs., said: "My mother was completely shocked by the (girls) confession.

"She had totally believed her schoolfriend's story and she was so proud to have those photographs, always willing to get them out to show friends or anyone else who was interested.

"Because of them she had spent her life believing in fairies.

"My mother felt so let down that she brought out the photographs and the archive of Cottingley Fairies material that she had collected over the years and told us to throw it all out.

"It was only because my wife intervened and offered to take care of it in case she changed her mind that it did not end up in the dustbin.

"Mother never did change her mind."

The fairy photographs were taken by Elsie in her backyard in the village of Cottingley, near Bradford, West Yorks., using her father's camera.

Experts at the time examined the photos and found no evidence of tampering - some even concluding them as "not fakes."

They became world-renowned when Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle published them in The Strand Magazine in 1920, claiming them to be authentic.

Famous spiritualist Edward Gardner even commissioned a number of prints to be made using the originals.

The two fairy photographs in their original brown card wallet were snapped up by a collector based in London.

Whittaker added: "I'm very pleased that there is now another custodian and they aren't just sitting in a drawer in our house.”