Few children’s characters are as beloved as Winnie the Pooh, the honey-suckling bear first made famous by creator A.A. Milne in a series of stories beginning in 1926 and later a marquee character in animated Disney productions.
Pooh’s adventures with Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, and the rest of the gang often led them to a bridge, which was based on a real location near Hartfield in East Sussex that Milne often visited with his son, Christopher Robin Milne.
Fans now have a chance to acquire the actual bridge, which is up for auction by UK-based Summers Place Auctions.
Originally known as Posingford Bridge and later Poohsticks Bridge, the 29-foot long by 15-foot wide oak structure was built in 1907 in Ashdown Forest. When the Winnie the Pooh book series and cartoons grew popular, visitors began flocking to the site, which led to it becoming worn. The bridge was taken down in 1999, dismantled, and stored in the Ashdown Forest Centre of East Sussex. It was subsequently restored and now awaits a new home. (Disney paid for most of the cost of a replacement bridge on the original site.)
Auctioneers expect the bridge to go for between $54,000 and $81,000, though they’re optimistic the legacy of the Pooh character could see it fetch as much as $339,000. The bridge is open for bids through October 6; buyers can be from anywhere in the world, though organizers hope it can remain in England.
Summers Place is no stranger to iconic structures: They previously auctioned off 20 tons of the Berlin Wall.