Sally Mitchell's Gallery. 1 Market Place, Tuxford, Newark, Notts, NG22 0LA, UK - 01777 838 234

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Snaffles C.J.Payne

Snaffles was the pseudonym of Charles Johnson Payne 1884-1967

He is best known for his delightful humorous pictures that also had a touch of emotion to them. He understood horses and the hunting field and conveyed it a way many people could identify with. His work was published by Forres gallery, the great sporting art publishers who flourished in london for well over a hundred years until the later part of the 20thC. The market for the prints really began to grow when a dealer called Richard Steele saw the great charm in them and started to specialise in them, exhibiting them at equestrian events around the country. More and more people began to collect them and the prices began to climb with many prints making four figures and more. This was followed by two publishers reproducing some of the limited editions, which I understood from his original publisher, had been something Snaffles specifically did not want doing, and selling them as reproductions. This has confused the market because some of them have been very well reproduced and it can be difficult to tell an old print from a reproduction. One must be quite sure therefore when buying a print that you are aware of its stature.