Queried title to sketches halts sale of Macca's mouse and friends

A creature of its time: this mouse, part of
the collection, with pipe, heavy eyelids and
working-class credentials, may have been
modelled on the late UK prime Minister
Harold Wilson, who was active at that time

A set of drawings, created by Sir Paul McCartney back in the 1970s, has been withdrawn from sale at an auction in Gloucestershire, England, after a legal challenge over ownership. Prototypes for a part-animated film, they were put up for sale by Maggie Thornton, daughter of animator Eric Wylam who died in 1997.  Although they have been in the family's possession for some 40 years, they were withdrawn from the auction after lawyers for the elderly Beatle -- one of only two survivors of the original Fab Four -- said they were unaware that their client had given them to Mr Wylam in the first place.  According to the BBC,

"... Chris Albury from Dominic Winter auctioneers in South Cerney, said he had no choice but to withdraw the items from sale. "The lawyers say they're still Paul McCartney's property as the film was made by his company MPL Communications," he said. "As such any work done by Paul or the team working on the film should have been returned to MPL or Paul at the end of its usage. "But this is contrary to what Maggie believes and what her father always told her."
...
The pictures, which were designs for the unreleased film The Bruce McMouse Show, had been expected to fetch £25,000 ..."".

Source: "Paul McCartney drawings withdrawn from sale at auction", BBC, 16 June 2011.  Further information concerning the drawings is available on The Mail here.