THE owner of a sought after Matchbox collection has sold part of it for £250,000, including several world record breaking prices.

Graham Hamilton's collection of Matchbox vehicles was being sold at Vectis Auctions, in Stockton.

The well-known collector attracted premium sales, with the "Graham Hamilton effect" ensuring even common models such as the “Desert Dawg” Superfast 20f 4x4 Jeep achieved 10 times its bottom estimate.

Normally sold for £10-£15, the estimate achieved was £120, which the auctioneer said could be a world record.

The total from the first two days of the sale is £281,000, with a further two days expected to achieve another £100,000 in September.

A Vectis spokesperson said: "This is possibly the highest grossing single owner Matchbox collection to be seen.

"Graham is over the moon with the result of the auction. Our specialist and auctioneer Julian Royse had estimated the collection in total to achieve £250,000, Graham achieved this and more, in the first two days."

Other lots achieving world record prices was a rare transitional Regular Wheels 31c Lincoln Continental model, sold to an internet bidder for £9,600 and an elusive Pre-production trial model 31c Lincoln Continental, which was sold for £15,600. Another suspected world record was achieved for a Regular Wheels 44c GMC Refrigerator Truck, which sold for £9,600 .