The late Terance James Bond’s bird paintings just ruffled feathers at auction, smashing estimates as collectors went wild for owls, eagles, and even a humble robin.
A Suffolk family’s 40-year stash of Bond’s lifelike bird portraits sold for a whopping £21,190 at Cheffins in Cambridge. A bald eagle piece, expected to fetch peanuts, clawed in £2,800, while a great grey owl hooted to £2,600. Even a robin strutted off with £1,100.
Bond, who died in 2023, was a self-taught artist whose own garden doubled as a bird runway. Collectors from Suffolk to Scotland battled it out, with three works smashing the artist’s auction record.
Moral of the story? If you’ve got a spare bird painting gathering dust, check the signature — it might just be a Bond, James Bond.
