November 8, 2010 9.30 am This story is over 160 months old

Gang’s art sells for thousands at local auction

Mafia art: Paintings from two renowned gangsters sold for thousands at an auction in Lincoln.

Gangland legends the Kray brothers left Lincolnites open-mouthed when their artwork was sold for over ten times its predicted price at an auction in the city.

Paintings by the notorious East End crime brothers, Ronnie and Reggie Kray, have fetched over £3,000, after being initially valued at between £200 and £300.

The paintings went up for sale on the third day of a huge antique sale in the city, to celebrate the merger of Golding Young of Grantham and Thomas Mawer and Son.

The group of seven paintings, four by Reggie and three by Ronnie, mainly depicted themselves, with some even being created for other celebrities.

One painting, created for Marc Bolan of T-Rex, raised the highest fee, selling for £2,200.

A painting of three men on a boat, staging their escape from an island prison sold for £675, and two other items by Reggie Kray also sold for £500 each.

Bolan’s painting was composed while the Krays were in Parkhurst prison, on the Isle of White, which was not unusual for the brother as the story of another unsold item at the auction told.

The Krays, along with another serial offender, Graham Young, all attended art classes while serving prison sentences in the 1970s.

One painting by Young which did not sell, dated September 21 1973, even has the HM Prison Parkhurst on the artwork and was originally traded for tobacco by another prisoner before resting with the current owner.

Source, Photo: PA