A VICTORIAN doll sold at auction for £17,000 - more than double what was expected.

The Bru doll, dating from 1880, was sold as part of a doll and bear sale at specialist toy auction house Vectis, in Thornaby, Teesside. The winning bid was a record bid for a doll in a Vectis auction.

The French doll, made from bisque, a type of pottery, was the subject of a bidding war between two telephone bidders, with the final bid coming in at £17,000, when she had been expected to fetch between £6,000 and £8,000.

Kathy Taylor, valuer at Vectis, said: "This doll was in very good condition considering her age. The colours are so bright they look like it is new, but they are all the original garments.

"Dolls dropped off in value but they are going up again now. They are seen not as toys but as art forms by people who appreciate the painting on the face. The eyelashes and eyeliner are hand painted and the lips are artfully painted with several different colours.

"As this lot approached the telephone lines were taken up with potential bidders, and coupled with two live internet feeds there was plenty of interest in this sale, and this lot in particular."

The whole of today's (Weds, Nov 25) doll and bear auction fetched over £74,000. The doll, and many of the items, were from a family who had owned the toys for generations.