Under the Hammer

I have been drinking off and on in a pub in Twickenham called The Tup. The rugby club use it after games on Saturdays, but Gillette Ray and I usually pop in for our Tuesday night club if there is a footie match on.

It has been a bit idiosyncratic as far as decor is concerned. A series of tup related cartoons have been blended with several prints by Beryl Cook, Jack Vettriano and others.

I have always vowed to offer the builder for some of them should the pub ever get a make-over. I already own a few Beryl Cooks but the one in The Tup would not be my first choice.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when a couple of Tuesdays ago I walked in and the 'Beryl' was missing. I looked round quickly and saw that both the others I liked had price tags on them. Further questioning of the new manager indicated that they were taking up too much wall space and did not fit the new Tup image. He clearly did not know what he was selling, so a quick deal was struck and they now reside in Chis. the manager was happy as he needed a new glass washer and he the 'Beryl' was the pick of the bunch, but how wrong could he be.

Only a select few of her screenprints command decent money, most of her litho's can be picked up for a few hundred pounds.

No, the one I wanted was 'The Partys Over' by Jack Vettriano and it became a Valentines present for SWMBO .Jack Vettriano is a Scottish artist who's most famous work, The Singing Butler sells more posters and prints than any other artist in the UK. The original recently sold for £750,000. He, like Beryl Cook, is frowned upon by the establishment as not really being a proper artist and consequently you will not find either hung at the Tate Modern.

Jacks pictures do have a smouldering sexuality about many of them and consequently the beer drinking Ruggers who frequent the Tup will now have to fantasise over something else.