Artwork by Peter Firmin, the illustrator and puppet maker who co-created Bagpuss, has sold for more than £400,000 at auction in Canterbury, drawing bidders from across the world. The sale, held over two days by Canterbury Auction Galleries, comprised over 500 paintings, books and collectibles discovered at Firmin's Kent home following its sale, and marked the largest single collection of his work ever to go under the hammer.

All 534 lots found buyers, with top prices going to paintings featuring The Clangers and Noggin the Nog. A signed Basil Brush artwork fetched £6,000, while a Gabriel the Toad piece and an illustration of Nogbad firing on the Ice Dragon each sold for £4,200; a Bagpuss scene with Emily and Professor Yaffle went for £1,600. Firmin, who died in 2018, created these characters with Oliver Postgate through their studio Smallfilms, and some items from the collection will be donated to Canterbury's Beaney Museum.