Winnie the Pooh’s ‘Poohsticks Bridge’ for sale at auction house
By Theresa Waldrop, CNN
The bridge made famous in the Winnie the Pooh books — where the bear and his friends played “pooh sticks” — is up for sale by the British auction house Summers Place.
The bridge in Ashdown Forest in England was the inspiration for the game described in A. A. Milne’s first Pooh book, “The House at Pooh Corner,” and illustrated by E. H. Shepard.
“Originally known as Posingford Bridge, Christopher Robin played on it as a child in the 1920’s with his father, the author A.A. Milne, inventing the game of Pooh sticks which provided the inspiration for the subsequent books,” the listing says.
Robin renamed it Poohsticks Bridge in 1979.
The 114-year-old bridge may sell for as much as £60,000 (about $81,000), Summers Place Auctions estimates. Sealed bids are now being accepted for the October 6 auction.
In 1999, the original bridge was replaced with a replica after it became “worn and degraded by the countless thousands of visitors” over the years, the listing says.
It was dismantled and stored at Ashdown Forest Centre until the local council moved to have it “rescued,” the auction house said.
The restoration includes local oak as replacement for any pieces that were missing, the listing says.
Last month, Pooh illustrator Kim Raymond hosted two one-night Airbnb stays in a replica of the bear’s house to celebrate the 95th anniversary of Pooh’s creation by Milne.
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