Monamy marine

At Eastbourne Auctions, they sell on 8 May 2015 a "View of British warships, bears a signature" estimated at £80 to £120. It's relatively small, only 28 by 38 cm, which may account for its relative lack of detail.

The question is: haven't they recognised the signature, or do they believe it to be fake? The first seems unlikely, and the second a bit dishonest not to give any attempt at attribution. The signature clearly reads "Monamy", which can only be (intended to be) Peter Monamy.

A real similar Monamy scene fetches thousands of pounds: the above pictured was sold for £19,000 at Woolley & Wallis in December 2014. It was considerably larger, at 91 by 122 cm. Another one, midsized between these two, sold at Christie's in 2014 for £8,750.

The above sold at Christie's in 2010 for £109,000.

So, the subject is exactly right for the name given, and the painting is certainly well executed. The small scale may point to a final preparatory version before the large scale more polished one is undertaken. But of course, it may also be a reasonably skilled copyist with an added signature. Looking at the details in the background of the one for sale, it looks to be a really good work. The signature doesn't seem correct, from what I can glean from other websites, but it wouldn't be the first time that a fake signature has been added afterwards to a correct work, as a form of attribution.

In any case, the estimate is very low (unless they suspect that it's really modern in fact), even for an anonymous "style of Monamy" work of this quality one should pay closer to £500. UPDATE: amusingly, this sold for exactly £500!