Tim Holder, a famous cartoonist from the 60s and 70s was really well known for his infamous and sometimes not very flattering caricatures of famous sporting and political faces of the time.
He was commissioned in the mid-’70s for a short period to be the main cartoonist at The Sun, in Franklin’s absence.
He later went on to become a cartoonist at The Sunday Express. But here we have one of four political cartoons he was commissioned to do on behalf of the Conservative Party in 1986.
According to the Certificate of Authenticity on the reverse of each of these four identically framed pictures, entitled Britain’s Governing Party, which incidentally purports to be written by The Rt Hon Peter Brooke MP (the then Chairman of the Conservative Party)…
“This fine edition of four lithographs was produced in 1986.
“They were specially commissioned to celebrate the tradition and evolution of the Conservative Party and were signed by The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher FRS MP Prime Minister and her three Conservative predecessors.
“Sadly, The Earl of Stockton (The Rt Hon Harold MacMillan OM) died before completing the signatures on his prints and edition had to be withdrawn after just over 100 sets had been sold.
“The present Lord Stockton, however, has agreed to sign the remaining prints in memory of his grandfather so that the demand for the reissue of these superb mementoes can be satisfied. This set, therefore, is one of a new limited edition of 380 sets to be sold during 1989, during the record-breaking tenth year of Conservative Government.”
The set then comprises four hand-coloured lithographic prints all numbered 149/500, the 500 refers to the number of editions there were supposed to be but it is actually 149/380 because of the 120 sold before the death of Supermac!
The set includes The Rt Hon The Earl of Stockton OM FRS (Harold MacMillan) hand-signed “Stockton” by his grandson, The Rt Hon Lord Home of The Hirsel KT (Alec Douglas-Home) unsigned, The Rt Hon Edward Heath MBE MP hand-signed by Ted Heath himself and The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher FRS MP hand-signed by Maggie herself.
This whole set of four coloured lithographs is available for sale in my shop, AntiqArt at Holme Grange Craft Centre from today at only £150 for the set.
Please come and visit me and say hello or check out my website at www.antiqart.co.uk or my Instagram or Facebook pages.
