CHRISTMAS shoppers were definitely out in force at an auction of works held at the Stannary Gallery last month.
Top price on the day was fetched by an oil painting by Atkinson Grimshaw, which sold for a staggering £45,000.
Ghyllbeck Barden Tower, painted in 1885, was found in a Cornish uninhabited house and according to auctioneer Robin Fenner, captured ?the golden tints and hues of autumn?.
?Despite a small area of damage to the work the painting was expected to fair well and in the end, tripled its top estimate,? said Mr Fenner.
Another top price was fetched by a 97-piece dinner service. It sold to a lady who wanted to ?top up? a service which had been in the family for more than 100 years. She eventually paid £5,100 for the set.
Mr Fenner said: ?A carved 19th century figure of a French cavalry officer, which almost certainly started life in France as an advertising figure outside a tobacconist or snuff shop, raised £2,000, the same price achieved for a pair of watercolour pictures by John Ernest Aitken.?
Among other lots were a child?s needlework sampler which changed hands at £900, a pair of Regency hall chairs for £1,100 and an ?outstanding? Royal Worcester ewer for £6,300.
Mr Fenner said: ?This was a sale for people seeking very selective items. A sale that is so well viewed by the public is bound to provide high realisations, and I?m delighted to say that it closes our year as successfully as it began.?