MAGNIFICENT furniture from one of Worcestershire's most famous country houses has been auctioned in London.

The furniture from Croome Court, near Pershore, netted a total of almost £170,000 at the auction at Christie's last Friday.

The items which fetched the highest price were a pair of George III torcheres - tall stands for candlesticks - which sold for £89,150, despite being expected to go for just £15,000.

A pair of highly decorative Regency brass-mounted centre tables also surpassed expectations, selling for £43,630 rather than the expected £25,000. A George III mahogany four-poster bed sold for £6,730, and a Regency silver-gilt agate basket fetched £6,572.

Other items from the estate which found new homes were a Georgian Pembroke table which made £7,170, a mahogany bedside cupboard, £3,585, and a centre table, £4,182.

The sale included items brought to the estate by George William, sixth Earl of Coventry, who succeeded to the title in 1751. The Earl patronised almost all the leading cabinet members of the day, as well as the architect Robert Adam, to produce collections and designs renowned throughout Britain.

Christie's furniture specialist Robert Copley said the Croome Court commissions were remarkable because so many of the original bills survived and many of the pieces were on display in major public collections.

"The sixth Earl's interests were not confined to England but to France also, where he purchased some remarkable French objects of art and pieces of furniture," he said.

George William, the 11th Earl of Coventry, died on June 14 and was buried at Earls Croome church on June 26.