A Scottish work by matchstick men artist JS Lowry has sold for less than £500.
A picture postcard of the Old Man of Wick in Caithness which was sent by the artist to his mother was sold in an online auction.
The handwritten card – posted from the Pentland Hotel, Thurso, on Sunday, July 12, 1936 – was sold by Fraser’s Autographs.
It had an estimated price of £400-£600 and made a starting bid of £400.
Addressed to “My dear Mother”, the card read: “One or two views of round about Wick – 20 miles from here, I bussed it there yesterday afternoon – it is a terrible railway going from Inverness to here – but worth it. Do hope you aren’t feeling too quiet without me. Weather on the showery side, but much better than too hot. Laurie.”
A Lowry painting of Thurso sold for £842,500 at auction in March .
Street Musicians features Lowry’s trademark matchstick figures and dogs but this time in Shore Street, Thurso.
In November another Caithness work by the artist sold for nearly £900,000 when it went under the hammer as part of a collection which fetched more than £15million in total.
Steps at Wick was painted in 1936 and shows the Black Stairs in Wick’s Pulteneytown area.
It was bought by a private London collector in 1993 and had not previously been seen in public for over 20 years.
Lowry, who grew up in Salford, was famous for his matchstick figure art and was a regular visitor to Scotland in the 1930s.
His life and work is celebrated in the 1978 Brian and Michael hit song Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs.