Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 340 - The Numismatic Collectors' Series Sale
Lot: 653

World War I. Fonquevillers & Old British Line from the German Line, Gommecourt Wood. May 1918. Watercolor by J.E. Tindall. 7 x 10". View of the steps leading from dugouts, old German and British front lines. Matted with typed narrative (with Tindall's pencil edits) below: "GOMMECOURT WOOD had been for years a German stronghold in spite of our continual attempts to take it. Riddled like a rabbit warren with connected dugouts 40 feet deep, it formed a real village underground. In this sketch one looks back from the old German front line, over his wire and across No-mans-land to the old British line in front of the distant trees. The entrance shown here is that leading to our office and officers' quarters. It was by a Phosgene gas shell bursting in this entrance that I was gassed and had to give up. At the top of the steps I mounted my horse in the dawn of May 18th 1918 and rode away with the Medical Officer towards England." Tindall's original notes in pencil on back.

The artist J.E. Tindall was likely Captain (acting Major) J.E. Tindall of the Royal Engineers who finished his service in 1919. In 1916, he served as Lieutenant with the Home Counties Divisional Engineers; while a captain with Home Counties-Field Company in 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross.

Sold for
$85