LONDON (Reuters) - An original drawing of A.A. Milne’s popular children’s characters Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger and Piglet fetched $50,000 at auction on Tuesday.

The oval pencil sketch by E.H. Shepard, one of children’s literature’s most famous illustrators, shows Pooh dipping his paw into a pot of honey while sitting at a table as Piglet and Tigger look on.

Auctioneer Bonhams said the successful telephone bidder was from Germany and bought the picture for his wife, a long-time Pooh fan.

On the same day, Sotheby’s announced it was offering what it called the finest single collection of Shepard’s original drawings for the Pooh books to be sold at auction.

The illustrations, from the collections of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone, are among the most recognizable, including “He went on tracking, and Piglet … ran after him” depicting Pooh and Piglet turning to each other as they walk away.

It is expected to fetch 40-60,000 pounds.

Also on offer is “Bump, bump, bump - going up the stairs” featuring Christopher Robin dragging his bear by the leg up the stairs beside him. It is valued at 50-70,000 pounds.

The drawing on sale at Bonhams was a larger version of an illustration entitled “Tiggers don’t like honey” which appeared in Milne’s “The House at Pooh Corner,” one of four books he wrote about the bear in the 1920s.

Other works by Shepard on sale at Bonhams included a first sketch for Kenneth Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows,” depicting Rat and Mole lounging with a picnic on the riverbank.

It appeared in the published book with the caption: “Now pitch in, old fellow! and the Mole was indeed very glad to obey” and fetched 7,440 pounds, including premium.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White and Michael Holden)

Tradeshows are a great adventure for many working people. Some of you get to set them up and work hard while others get to take a booze filled Vegas vacation and call it work. The problem with a lot of these shows though is the ugly design behind many of the booths. Here are a few examples of booth design I found unique and interesting. Maybe they can inspire some of you responsible for building them.

Photo by s,B - Michael Brenton-King of The Wachoo Wachoo.

A booth for plusserver, a German hosting company.

Photo by Judy B.

Yellow Pages booth at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre - the 2008 Interior Design Show.

Photo by nickgraywfu.

This is a very clean and bright booth for the Ojo personal video phone. Simple booth design can be tricky as a lot of times the booth can just come across as empty and lazy. Lighting and colors are very important.

Photo by pop up booth.

Their are many styles of booths out there but I’ve never seen one like this. Very original indeed.

Photo by TheImageGroup.

The NorthShore Villas and Yacht Club booth at the 1st Annual West MI Cottage & Lakefront Living Show, DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan. I really liked this design, it looks like a lot of work went into it. That background would have been fun to paint.

Photo by yourBane

Very clean and large. That large spinning fan must have looked great in action.

Photo by joeyinteractive.

This booth for Moshi is pretty swell. Very clean and very well done.

More than rockets will launch in Houston this summer as the Red Bull Art of Can exhibit opens July 12-25, showcasing a wide variety of art made from recycled materials. The public exhibit curated by Wade Wilson of Wade Wilson ART will be housed at the Houston Galleria. The 47-piece collection includes a life-size bull kicking a china cabinet, a Houston Texan football helmet, a kinetic pinball machine and an aluminum portrait of Barack Obama. Visit the site to see where the exhibit will be traveling and to see images from the show.

As reported earlier, 12 pieces of art by Canadian artist Bill Reid had been stolen from the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. The value was estimated at around $2 million.

On Sunday June 8th, a house in south Burnaby was raided by police in connection with the case according to RCMP Const. Annie Linteau. She did not say if all of the items had been recovered but police are still present at some locations connected with the crime.

Linteau said police hope to release more information today, so I will update this post when more information becomes available.

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Update: All I’ve been able to find so far is a quote from a museum spokesman Scott McRae. He says, “I can confirm that they (the RCMP) told us that at least some of the Bill Reid pieces stolen from the Vancouver museum have been recovered and intact”.

So it sounds like only some of the pieces were found. If anyone knows more post in the comments, and when I find more I’ll update.

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2nd Update: There are still 2 pieces missing according to the National Post and The Globe and Mail.

“After searching both residences extensively, all but two stolen Bill Reid art exhibits were recovered intact. The substantive items, including the most prized, which is the gold box with an eagle, were recovered,” said RCMP Inspector Brendan Fitzpatrick.

Police are still hopeful that the pieces were not melted down for the gold.

“While we are satisfied that we have recovered most of the stolen items, the RCMP would like to seek the public’s assistance in recovering the last two items which we have reason to believe are still in the Lower Mainland area,” Insp. FitzPatrick said. “Our investigation to date indicates those items likely went to a local buyer or stolen property broker.”

“Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel has finally been completed. An extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope has been installed at both ends which miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa.”

This is the description of the Telectroscope from the artists website, it could also be that it is all done by fiber optics, the first explanation by artist Paul St George is a little more magical though.

One end of the “tunnel” is next to Tower Bridge on the Thames river in London. The opposite end is next to Brooklyn Bridge by New York’s East River.

It is similar to a gigantic webcam, people on one side can look in and see people on the other side. Unlike using a webcam however most of the people on the other end will be wearing clothes.

You can view a video of the piece over at the BBC.