Paget Drawing "The Death of Sherlock Holmes"
Sotheby's 2024 Auction

By Randall Stock, June 26, 2024 (revised)

Sidney Paget's original drawing of Holmes & Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls set a new record at Sotheby's on June 26, 2024.

Thumbnail image of The Death of Sherlock Holmes drawing

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Photos of the Drawing

Catalog & Sale Info

The Library of Rodney P. Swantko

Rodney Swantko (1940–2022) lived in the Chicago area and was a specialist in oral and maxillofacial surgery. He built a spectacular but little-known collection of rare books and manuscripts.

Swantko's collection of Sherlockiana makes up what is truly "a small but select library." It includes the most valuable Conan Doyle manuscript ever sold at auction, the most valuable Sherlock Holmes drawing, and the most valuable copy of a Holmes story not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Manuscript of The Sign of Four
Sidney Paget Drawing "The Death of Sherlock Holmes"
The Unique Hamlet (copy VS5) by Vincent Starrett
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (large paper edition) by Vincent Starrett
The Hound of the Baskervilles (first edition)

The Swantko material at Sotheby's consists of 47 lots that are expected to bring more than $4 million at auction. Besides the Sherlockian items, the sale includes:

Original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Edgar Allan Poe's first book Tamerlane (one of only twelve known copies)
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) first edition signed and inscribed two days before the official publication date
L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) first edition, first issue inscribed to a close family friend

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The Death of Sherlock Holmes Drawing Description

Lot 10: Original drawing of "The Death of Sherlock Holmes" by Sidney Paget

Original pen & ink and wash drawing (10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches), signed "Sidney Paget | 1893" by the artist in the lower left corner. The drawing consists of two sections of paper, with the lower portion 3 3/4 inches high. It is mounted on board, matted, framed, and glazed.

Sidney Paget signature and date on the drawing

A sizing notation "5 inche" appears in the lower margin with lines extending to both sides of the drawing. The printed illustration in The Strand Magazine was 5 inches wide and captioned as "The Death of Sherlock Holmes." For more details, see the history section of this web page.

Note about sizing in bottom margin of drawing

The back of the drawing includes some barely-visible notes that appear to read "81 mat | open 6 ¾ x 10 [drawn vertical rectangle] 13 x 16 | 3 ¾ bottom | 13 x 16" along with a circled "#6."

See below for full photos of the drawing.

While Paget produced more than 350 illustrations for the Holmes stories, only 30 of his Holmes drawings still exist. See the Census of Sidney Paget original drawings.

This drawing holds the record as the most valuable Sherlock Holmes artwork ever sold at auction. It also set the previous record of $220,800 at Sotheby's in 2004.

Presale Estimate: US$250,000 - $350,000

Sotheby's opened online bidding on June 6, 2024. The bid as of June 10 stood at $150,000. For more auction details and a link to the bidding page, see the catalog section below.

Sale Results

The drawing sold for $384,000, which consisted of a $320,000 hammer price plus the buyer's premium, on June 26, 2024. This sets a new record for the most valuable Sherlock Holmes drawing ever sold at auction.

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History of "The Death of Sherlock Holmes"

While not the first artist to draw Sherlock Holmes, Sidney Edward Paget (1860–1908) established the iconic representation of Holmes through his illustrations for The Strand Magazine. Starting with the first Holmes short story in July 1891, Paget illustrated all 38 Holmes tales in the Strand until his untimely death in 1908.

Conan Doyle decided to kill Holmes at the end of his second series of Holmes short stories. In "The Final Problem," the author introduced Professor Moriarty, "the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected" in London. Holmes and Moriarty battle atop the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland in the story's climax.

Paget provided nine illustrations for "The Final Problem," which appeared in the December 1893 Strand Magazine. He depicted Moriarty in three of them, including this drawing captioned in the Strand as "The Death of Sherlock Holmes." Only one other original Paget drawing of Moriarty still exists.

Prior to "The Final Problem," the Strand relegated the Holmes stories to secondary locations within each issue. However, it made "The Final Problem" the leading entry in its December 1893 number. The Strand used "The Death of Sherlock Holmes" as its first Holmes frontispiece illustration.

Table of contents for December 1893 Strand

The same illustration appears as the frontispiece for both the British and American first editions of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Only 30 original Sidney Paget drawings from the Holmes stories still exist. The census of Sidney Paget drawings notes that 3 of those 30 might be lost.

Featuring the battle between the world's greatest detective and his archenemy, "The Death of Sherlock Holmes" is arguably the most famous Holmes illustration.

The original Paget drawing stayed in the Conan Doyle family until the 1970s. It holds the record as the most valuable Sherlock Holmes artwork ever sold at auction, bringing $220,800 at Sotheby's in 2004 and $384,000 at Sotheby's in 2024.

Since that 2004 sale, only one other Paget drawing of Holmes has appeared at auction. That drawing from "Silver Blaze" sold at Christie's in 2014.

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Provenance of the Drawing

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (died 1930); Jean Leckie Conan Doyle (Sir Arthur's widow, died 1940); Adrian Conan Doyle (Sir Arthur's son, died 1970); Anna Conan Doyle (Adrian's widow, offered via Lew David Feldman / The House of El Dieff 1971–1973); private collector (per Sotheby's 2024); Maurice F. Neville (sold via Sotheby's New York, 16 November 2004, lot 505); Rodney P. Swantko (died 2022, sold from his library via Sotheby's New York, June 26, 2024, lot 10).

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Exhibitions of the Drawing

1951 Sherlock Holmes Exhibition (Festival of Britain, May–Sep. 1951), item no. 26 at Abbey House, London; lent by Adrian Conan Doyle.

1952 Sherlock Holmes Exhibition (New York City), item no. 29; lent by Adrian Conan Doyle.

2011 Newberry Library Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Symposium; displayed by Rodney P. Swantko.

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The Death of Sherlock Holmes Drawing Photos

Front of Sidney Paget original drawing "The Death of Sherlock Holmes"

Back of The Death of Sherlock Holmes drawing

Back of Sidney Paget original drawing "The Death of Sherlock Holmes"

The drawing description (above) has more information and enlarged photos of parts of the drawing.

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Sotheby's Catalog & Sale Information

See Sotheby's online catalog and bidding page for Lot 10: Sidney Paget's drawing of "The Death of Sherlock Holmes". Their listing includes photos of the front and back of the drawing.

For more about other items in this auction, see the following from the "Best of Sherlock" website:

The Sotheby's website for the Library of Dr. Rodney P Swantko also includes a text backgrounder about the sale under "Auction Details" and a web-based presentation with photos from their catalog under the "Overview" tab that includes a section on Sherlockiana.