Articles 
These 2 bronze miniatures of Alan Shearer and Jackie Milburn will be auctioned at Woodhorn Museum, Ashington on 27th May 2010. They will be able to be viewed there from 1st May onwards.They are the artists proofs of the 8 feet high statues that were commissioned to go outside St James' Park - although these plans now seem to be on hold.
They are being auctioned on behalf of local charity Central Palz and the auction is part of their 10th anniversary art auction to raise funds. Central Palz provides a palliative care service to improve the quality of life for patients coping with a palliative illness, and their carers.
The miniatures are titled ‘Local Heroes’, sculpted by local sculptor Tom Maley, who originally had this to say about them :
"They are exact 10” high miniatures of larger than life size bronze statues which have been commissioned by Newcastle United Football Club to go outside St James’ Park . The concept is of a fantasy pairing showing the 1950’s greatest goal-scorer, Jackie Milburn, passing the ball to today’s greatest goal-scorer, Alan Shearer. This symbolically shows the mantel being passed from the past to the present."
"The pair are made of bronze finished resin mounted on stainless steel bases. On the underside I have signed them both and also written A.P. #4, this means ‘Artist’s Proof’ number 4. All the artists proofs are finished and assembled by myself, artists proofs are preproduction runs typically of around 10, in this case I will limit them to a quantity of 9 only."
"The first pair are with the Directors of Newcastle United Football Club. The second pair is with Alan Shearer. The third pair is with the Milburn Family. This is the fourth."
"The proofs are a forerunner to production edition of @1000 which will be factory produced and therefore I consider that the Artists Proofs will be considerably more collectable and therefore valuable than the eventual edition."
