A NEW record has been set at a Herefordshire auction room.

There was a 'spectacular amount of interest' at Nigel Ward Co's latest auction, with more than 1,300 buyers from all over the world registering.

Many bidders rose at unearthly hours in their various time zones to take part in the live auction proceedings, with spirited bidding online, by commission, in the room, and by telephone as a number of popular items went under the hammer.

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And the Pontrilas auction room's previous record hammer price of £38,000 for a 17th century world atlas was smashed by a beautifully sculpted marble bust of a lady, which achieved a hammer price of £52,000.

Other notable lots included a lacquered mirror case, which sold for £6,100, eastern rugs at £3,600 and £2,800, a David Cox oil painting of a pastoral landscape, which achieved a price of £2,400, a 17th century portrait of a lady, selling for £2,100, and a Sam Spode oil painting of a bay horse and jockey, with the hammer coming down at £1,800.

Top prices were also achieved for a circular vivid coloured silk table cover, a pair of Shagreen picture frames, a six half-sovereign bracelet, a peg-joyned refectory table, a framed plaster model of a doorway in the Alhambra Palace, a military battle dress jacket, a trio of ebonised cock-pen chairs, a set of 8 dining chairs by the makers for Howard, a pair of German leather pistol holsters, and a pair of silver framed dressing mirrors, while a distressed wooden trunk and its contents of old army uniforms realised £2,300 in total. There was also the usual vast array of effects to suit all tastes and budgets.

Detailed results can be viewed online at www.nigel-ward.co.uk

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