The Henrijean Big Game Trophy Collection

by  Adam Schoon, Tennants Auctioneers

I first met Jacques and Micheline Henrijean during a valuation visit to their home close to the Forêt de Soignies in Belgium in December 2007 where  I found one of the most remarkable big game trophy collections I had ever seen, the majority of which had been taken, not by Jacques, but by Micheline.  The trophies are from all parts of the world, and represent some of the highest skills of the art of taxidermy. Tennants are privileged to have been instructed to sell this amazing collection of trophies, which comprises 180 lots and is particularly strong in species of sheep, goat and ibex - indeed the motif chosen to represent the Henrijean collection is that of a pair of Markhor horns.  This specimen is estimated to sell for £600-£900.

Micheline insists hunting should not be considered an exclusively male sport.  She relies on her deep motivation and commitment to hunting and to a stoical acceptance of all the discomforts that go with it.  In her sporting career Micheline was able to bag one of the world’s rarest species of sheep, and indeed the sale encompasses two specimens of the Kamchatka Bighorn (Ovis nivicola nivicola) (estimates £300-£500) that inhabit the vast area from the Kamchatka Peninsula west to the Putorana Mountains in North West Siberia and into the high country close to the Arctic Circle. 

One of the highlights of the Henrijean Big Game Collection is the Polar Bear trophy (estimate £8,000-£12,000), taken by Micheline during a hunt not far from Resolute Bay (North West Territories), which involved a trip of over two hundred and fifty miles on the ice.  In order to gain this specimen local Inuit guides were employed (they provided hand made Caribou skin clothing for the Henrijeans).  The skull of this animal is also included in the sale. 

One of the Henrijeans most memorable expeditions was in Afghanistan 1974.  The expedition involved exhausting hunts on Yaks in the Pamirs, encompassing summits of around five thousand metres and temperatures of below -30ºC.  Micheline’s Marco Polo sheep trophy took eight days of tracking but she was eventually able to bag it the day before the trip ended.   She was the first woman in the world to collect a record book Marco Polo sheep in the Afghan Pamirs, (estimate £1,000-£1,500)

During my cataloguing visit to the Henrijean’s home in February 2008, Jacques was heard to say on numerous occasions “My wife is as good a hunter as any man I have known”.

Moving from a large house to a small apartment has forced the Henrijeans to sell their collection, which has been carefully exported to Tennants Auction Rooms at Leyburn and with all lots having the appropriate licences, this sale presents a unique opportunity for collectors.

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