I love Winnie-the-Pooh. Who wouldn’t love the “tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff”? Apparently somebody loves him a whole lot!

An auction record was set at Sotheby’s yesterday when a collection of E.H. Shepard‘s original drawings for A.A. Milne‘s Winnie-the-Pooh books sold for approximately £1.3 million ($2 million USD), well above the estimated sale amount. Shepard’s drawing “He went on tracking, and Piglet … ran after him,” also sold at more than double the estimated sales price at £115,250 – a record sales amount for a drawing by a British artist

The popular image of Christopher Robin dragging Pooh by the leg up the stairs, bumped bidders up to the final sales price of £97,250. Again, the final sale price beat expectations.

These sales amounts are a bit surprising given the recent downturn in the fine art market.

Perhaps comfort can be found in cuddly teddy bears after all.