John Le Carré items sell for more than £71,000 at auction

Items belonging to the author John Le Carré sold for a total of £71,000 at auction on Wednesday.

Roseberys London offered more than 90 lots from the Cornish estate of the late David Cornwell, better known by his pen name John Le Carré.

A best-selling British spy author, Le Carré was behind works such as Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy.

The highest selling item was an Italian marble model of Cupid, which went for more than £9,000.

The lots, which included furniture, garden statuary, works of art and carpets from the estate, were part of the auction house's fine and decorative sale.

Auctioneer Anna Evans said one of her favourite pieces was a wainscot chair commissioned for the author's 80th birthday.

The chair, which sold for £1,246, had a burrowing mole carved into the side - a mole was used as a moniker for a double agent in Le Carré's novels.

"It's like an in-joke that his children put it in this chair as this gift," Ms Evans said.

"So that's a nice link, his interest in English furniture and his career as a crime novelist."

Other items of note included a pair of Edwardian mahogany and tan leather armchairs which sold for £3,148, a fine antique Persian Sarouk carpet at £2,099, and a George II walnut side table which sold for about £1,500.

Ms Evans said she was "delighted" with the results.

She said: "The John Le Carré collection achieved strong prices from bidders keen to own an item from the esteemed crime novelist's Cornish home.

"In particular, English furniture and garden sculpture saw buyers compete to push the hammer prices beyond the high estimates."

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