Time to Hit The Slopes: Lyon & Turnbull’s January 13, 2026 The Ski Sale

With the calendar page turning to January, 2026, The Auction Daily Team thought it might be timely to ring in the New Year with a look at some auction highlights from Lyon & Turnbull’s upcoming The Ski Sale auction event. This annual winter sale takes place on January 13, 2026 in Edinburgh and online, and features 88 “best of the best” antique to vintage winter sports themed travel and destination posters. Here are five stunning examples from this sale certain to catch the eye – and probably the pocketbooks – of collectors worldwide. 

The top lot in this sale is #0024, Alex W Diggelmann’s (Swiss, 1902–1987) GSTAAD. It holds a presale estimate of £15,000-£20,000. This 50-1/2″ x 35-1/2″ or 127 x 90 cm linen backed travel poster for the picturesque Berner Oberland alpine region in central Switzerland was published in 1938 and is illustrated with six happy tourists and a driver on a wooden sled heading up a snow covered mountain. 

Alex Diggelmann was an award winning artist famous for his sports themed illustrations seen in books and on travel and destination posters. Today, his works continue to command premier prices at auction and are highly sought after by collectors. On February 12, 2015, Swann Auction Galleries sold lot #51, another view of GSTAAD by Diggelmann from 1934. It realized $30,000 on its $2,000-3,000 presale estimate. 

Posters advertising St. Moritz as a winter destination are well represented in this sale. Lot #0016, Emil Cardinaux’s (Swiss, 1877-1936) PALACE HOTEL, ST. MORITZ, is estimated at £10,000-£15,000. It was printed in 1920 and measures 50-1/2″ x 35-1/2″ or 127 x 90 cm. This linen backed example features two well attired women and a man in the forefront, an ice skater to the right, and a group of spectators to the left.   

Emil Cardinaux, best known for his posters illustrated with aspirational Swiss travel destinations, began his career as a lawyer but soon transitioned to studying art full time in Munich in the late 1890s. The luxury hotel advertised in this poster began operations in 1896 and is still in business today. One of Cardinaux’s other signature pieces is his Zermatt – Matterhorn travel poster. This iconic interpretation of the world famous Swiss mountain is still used in advertising today – more than a century onward from its creation in 1908.

This sale offers a fine selection of posters promoting Davos, Switzerland as a cold weather paradise. Lot #0051, Burkhard Mangold’s (Swiss, 1873-1950) WINTER IN DAVOS, is estimated at £5,000-£7,000. This linen backed poster from 1914 measures 50″ x 35-1/2″ or 127 x 90 cm. It is handsomely illustrated in primary colors with a man and women skating in the forefront, with another couple and a line of skaters in the rear.  This exact work was previously sold as lot #133 at Christie’s London’s The Ski Sale held on March 3, 2005.

Artist Burkhard Mangold, who was given the title “the Grandfather of the Basel School of graphic design and poster art,” was best known for his visually impactful posters – but he also created stunning murals, stained glass, and paintings. Most were themed after Swiss culture, geography, lifestyle, and fashion of his prewar era. His style was a hybrid of the Art Nouveau, Secession, and Art Deco movements. 

Vintage posters featuring beauty shots of attractive women participating in winter sports is another key category in this eye-catching sale. Lot #0005, Martin Peikert’s (Swiss, 1901–1975) WENGEN, is estimated at £4,000-£6,000. This 40″ x 25″ or 102 x 64 cm linen backed example from 1945 is illustrated with a flirty young woman in a yellow and white snow suit taking off her jacket, with the mountains of Wengen, Switzerland in the background. 

Illustrator, painter, decorator, and designer Martin Peikert traveled and worked throughout Europe as a young man. He moved to back to Switzerland in the 1940s and began creating travel posters for alpine destinations across the country, including Valais and the Bernese Oberland. It is interesting to note that Wengen, the vacation district noted in this auction highlight, is car-free; it can only be accessed directly by foot, bicycle, or via a ride on the Wengernalp Railway service.

This sale rounds out with posters promoting various winter vacation destinations, travel modalities, and consumer products. Lot #0068, Dick Bruna’s (1927-2017) PAMPERS, is estimated at £500-£700. This unbacked 24″ x 16″ or 61 x 41 cm work from 1974 is illustrated with a grumpy looking boy on skis atop of a small snow mound. Its caption translates from the Dutch as, “This unique Bruna poster is brought to you by Pampers.” Pampers, now an international brand of disposable diapers, were invented in the USA by engineers at Proctor and Gamble starting in the late 1950s as an alternative to cumbersome and often messy cloth diaper changes. 

For more information on Lyon & Turnbull’s The Ski Sale, please see https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/401028_the-ski-sale/?page=1&sort=-bidCount.

Captions:

• Lot #0024, Alex W Diggelmann’s GSTAAD, is estimated at £15,000-£20,000.  
• Lot #0016, Emil Cardinaux’s PALACE HOTEL, ST. MORITZ, is estimated at £10,000-£15,000.  
• Lot #0051, Burkhard Mangold’s WINTER IN DAVOS, is estimated at £5,000-£7,000.
• Lot #0005, Martin Peikert’s WENGEN, is estimated at £4,000-£6,000.  
• Lot #0068, Dick Bruna’s PAMPERS, is estimated at £500-£700.