We've been clearing out my great aunt's house and have come across two signed desert orchid sketches. We were going to ebay them , but thought i'd ask on here if anyone knew whether they would be worth anything? Would it be worth trying to sell them elsewhere, and if so where?

I'm not too clued up in this sort of area!!

Google the artist's name and see if what information there is.

David Elsworth (Dessies trainer) or the Burridges (Who bred him) maybe interested...not sure where they are are now though so may have to do some research.

The Dessie fanclub has since closed down but am sure you will find plenty of people still interested..me for one.

Annee

The artist is more important in terms of value but a good subject, well drawn, should attract some interest even if by an amateur.

Do you have any idea where she might have got the drawings from?  If you can research the artist and establish the history of ownership (provenance) then you might do better to sell them at a conventional auction.  They will know how to market them for you and if you can find an auctioneer nr good racing locations then so much the better. 

DO was trained in Fordingbridge but retired to Newmarket when David Elsworth moved

Good luck

thank you all for your replies. :)

The artist is David French but have googled him and can't really find any info on him. Have looked up David Elsworth too but can't find any contact details. Think this is going to take longer than I first thought!!

We've no idea where she got them from , and she now suffers from alzeimers (sp) so have no way of finding out either.

Before you Ebay them, would it be a good idea to take them to nearest Auction House to get an opinion or even a reputable gallery?

David French appears to be a known artist and I saw some other racing pictures of his online.  I did see a page of greyhound drawings too so perhaps it's animals in general rather than horses in particular.  I think this is your man

Your best bet would be to talk to any of the Horse Racing Art specialists so try: Newmarket Gallery, 6 Rous Road, Newmarket, CB8 8DL  Phone: 01638 661183 for starters.  I'd suggest also checking whether you have a print or an original.  An original would obviously be worth more and most auctioneers would be able to access online sales records for prices. 

David Elsworth is based at Egerton House Stables, Newmarket, Suffolk.  I would imagine he has plenty of DO memorabilia though :)

Chuckle, was wondering if it was one of mine till I saw you'd posted the artist's name, one day I'll be famous..........

I always look out for Dessie pics..one of our dogs has that name(which took us 3 atempts to get). We use National Hunt runners for our pedigree names.

I would go to a specialist auctioneer and see what they think as that sort of stuff is highly sought after by the racing franternity :-)