Photo: War-Hero Pigeons' Possible Ancestors on Auction Block

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This portrait of a prize-winning pigeon is signed by "J Baldaus" and dated 1920.

The pigeon won the Prix d'Excellence au Belgian National Flying Club de Bruxelles in 1919, according to Bonhams, the London auction house that is putting this painting up for sale this month.

Bonham's pigeon-painting offerings are from the collection of World War II-era bird breeder Jack Lovell, whose hero bird flock descended from those bred by Jule Janssen, a 19th-century Belgian breeder who commissioned the paintings.

Photograph courtesy Bonhams

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