Stuffed Squirrels Fight for High Prices

Stuffed squirrels don’t sound like expensive collectibles, but four pairs of 19th-century boxing squirrels, each mounted in a wooden box, sold for $17,700 to $22,420 at a Rachel Davis Fine Arts auction in Cleveland in September 2013. We counted about 50 bids for each pair. The red squirrels were mounted by William Hart & Sons in about 1850. Hart was one of the most famous taxidermists in England and did several sets of squirrel “Pugilists.” His son, Edward, was also famous as a taxidermist and made more of the anthropomorphic squirrel sets. The c.1850 squirrels that sold…