# Peter Scott artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/peter-scott/ Profile generated: 2026-05-11T02:15:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1909-09-14 - Death date: 1989-08-29 - Nationality: British - Movements: British wildlife and sporting art tradition - Common media: Oil painting, Watercolour, Illustration and drawing ## About Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott (1909–1989) was a British painter, illustrator, conservationist, and broadcaster celebrated for his depictions of wildfowl and wildlife. Born in London, he was the only child of the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Scott developed an early fascination with observing and painting birds, an interest that shaped both his artistic output and his lifelong work in conservation. He founded the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge and was instrumental in establishing the World Wildlife Fund, for which he designed its iconic panda logo. As a painter, Scott worked primarily in oils and watercolours, focusing on bird scenes and natural-history subjects drawn from direct field observation. His dual reputation as a serious wildlife artist and a prominent public conservation figure gives his work enduring appeal among collectors of British sporting and natural-history art. ## Common works and media Peter Scott's most commonly encountered works are oil paintings and watercolours of wildfowl, shorebirds, and other bird species in their natural habitats. He also produced ink and pencil drawings, book illustrations — particularly for natural-history and conservation publications — and limited-edition prints reproducing his bird studies. Occasionally his landscape paintings featuring wetland or coastal settings appear at auction. His published illustrations for books on ornithology and wildlife conservation are widely held in institutional collections. ## Market and appraisal context Appraisily auction records index 92 lots attributed to 'Peter Scott', of which 58 carry a realised price, spanning April 2003 to May 2025. The price distribution is wide: the lowest-priced recorded lots (signed books and prints) realised around £10–£50, the interquartile range sits roughly at £60–£1,800, and the highest individual price in the dataset is £12,000 paid at Bonhams in September 2024 for the oil painting 'Swans at sunset'. Other notable prices include £2,750 at Doyle (May 2024), $2,600 at Cottone Auctions (March 2022), and A$1,800 at GFL Fine Art (November 2021). The median price across all priced lots is approximately £275 / $275. Oil paintings of wildfowl subjects command the strongest results; watercolours, lithographs, and limited-edition prints typically fall in the lower range. Signed books and ephemera cluster at the bottom. Liquidity is moderate: 7 lots appeared in the year ending May 2024 but only 1 in the most recent 12-month window, suggesting that quality consignments appear intermittently rather than in a steady stream. Major houses handling his work include Bonhams, Christie's, and Forum Auctions in the UK, alongside Cottone Auctions, Doyle, and Turner Auctions in the US, and GFL Fine Art in Australia. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Appraisily auction records index 92 lots attributed to 'Peter Scott', of which 58 carry a realised price, spanning April 2003 to May 2025. The price distribution is wide: the lowest-priced recorded lots (signed books and prints) realised around £10–£50, the interquartile range sits roughly at £60–£1,800, and the highest individual price in the dataset is £12,000 paid at Bonhams in September 2024 for the oil painting 'Swans at sunset'. Other notable prices include £2,750 at Doyle (May 2024), $2,600 at Cottone Auctions (March 2022), and A$1,800 at GFL Fine Art (November 2021). The median price across all priced lots is approximately £275 / $275. Oil paintings of wildfowl subjects command the strongest results; watercolours, lithographs, and limited-edition prints typically fall in the lower range. Signed books and ephemera cluster at the bottom. Liquidity is moderate: 7 lots appeared in the year ending May 2024 but only 1 in the most recent 12-month window, suggesting that quality consignments appear intermittently rather than in a steady stream. Major houses handling his work include Bonhams, Christie's, and Forum Auctions in the UK, alongside Cottone Auctions, Doyle, and Turner Auctions in the US, and GFL Fine Art in Australia. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these auction records as comparable-sale evidence alongside the client's photographs, measured dimensions, identified medium (oil on canvas, watercolour, ink and gouache, print, etc.), signature and date inscriptions, overall condition, and any documented provenance such as gallery labels, exhibition histories, or estate stamps. The wide price spread means that medium, size, and subject are critical value drivers: an oil painting of wildfowl by Sir Peter Markham Scott in good condition can reasonably be expected to achieve several thousand pounds at a mid-tier or major UK auction house, while prints, lithographs, and signed books typically realise under £100. The appraisal should cross-reference the lot title and artist description against Sir Peter Markham Scott (1909–1989) to exclude works by other practitioners who share the same name, including a Johannesburg-based jeweller and at least one American painter active in the late 20th century. ### Valuation factors - Medium: original oil paintings command significantly higher prices than watercolours, prints, or book illustrations. - Subject: wildfowl and bird subjects (particularly swans, geese, and ducks in flight or at wetland settings) attract the strongest collector demand. - Size: larger compositions tend to realise higher prices; small works and prints cluster at the lower end. - Provenance: works with documented exhibition history, gallery labels, or estate provenance linking them to Sir Peter Markham Scott carry a premium. - Condition: as with all works on canvas and paper, condition reports materially affect realised price. - Signature and dating: signed and dated works provide stronger attribution confidence than unsigned lots. - Attribution verification: the name 'Peter Scott' is shared by multiple artists and makers; lots must be confirmed as by Sir Peter Markham Scott (1909–1989) to apply wildlife-art comparables. - Market timing: auction volume is thin, with fewer than 10 priced lots per year in most periods, so a single strong result can skew the apparent ceiling. ### Collector notes - For buyers: focus on original oil paintings of wildfowl subjects with clear attribution to Sir Peter Markham Scott (1909–1989). Works sold through Bonhams, Christie's, Forum Auctions, or comparable UK houses tend to carry stronger provenance documentation. Be cautious of lots that do not specify 'British, 1909–1989' or 'Sir Peter Markham Scott', as these may be by other artists sharing the name. Prints and lithographs are widely available and typically priced below £100, making them an accessible entry point but with limited appreciation potential. For sellers: a well-attributed oil painting of swans or geese in good condition with documented provenance is the strongest consignment candidate. The £12,000 Bonhams result in 2024 suggests the ceiling for high-quality oils is solid; consigning through a specialist sporting art or wildlife art sale at a major UK house is likely to maximise exposure. Signed books and ephemera have a ready but low-value market and are best sold as group lots. ### Market caveats - The name 'Peter Scott' is shared by multiple artists and makers. At least one recent lot (Strauss & Co, May 2025) relates to a Johannesburg jeweller, and another (William Bunch Auctions, June 2020) appears to be by an American painter active in 1999. Auction-house data is not always disambiguated, so lot-level attribution review is essential. - Auction volume is low — only 1 lot recorded in the most recent 12-month window, down from 7 in the prior year — so current market direction is difficult to assess. - Price dispersion is very wide (£10 to £12,000), reflecting the mix of original paintings, prints, and signed books under the same artist heading. Median and interquartile figures are more useful than the ceiling price for typical consignment expectations. - Currency mix (GBP, USD, AUD, ZAR) means direct price comparisons require conversion; figures cited above are in the original sale currency unless otherwise stated. - No museum collection page, catalogue raisonné, or auction-house biography was available in the source pack, so the full scope of Scott's painted output is not captured. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/peter-scott/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-peter-scott-signed-print-book-2-vintage-books-230-c-f784d8f99f - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-peter-scott-3-wildfowl-books-2-signed-261-c-6ea48328e4 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-the-eye-of-the-wind-by-peter-scott-signed-144a-c-7534986b86 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-peter-scott-3-naturalist-books-signed-144-c-a5744bdb1b ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Peter Scott, identity data is grounded in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, Getty ULAN, RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and VIAF. Market observations draw on Invaluable auction-lot data and publicly documented sale history. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50005960 - RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/71643 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500026317 - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/54223646/ - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q731311 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Scott - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/34443273/