A RARE lead figure of a girl made by the world famous Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts failed to find a buyer when it came up for auction on Friday May 25.

The scantily clad figure made by craftsmen in the early 1900s at the Guild, which had premises in Station Street, is gazing at a butterfly on her outstretched arm.

Unusually it bears the Guild's name.

It was one of a number of lots put up for auction by Sotheby's South, in Billingshurst, West Sussex, during a two-day sale of garden statues and architectural items.

Experts had estimated it would be knocked down for between £12,000 to £18,000.

However, a spokesman for the famous auction house said it had failed to sell and he was not sure whether it would be put up again at a later date.

He also declined to name the seller.

The Guild, whose most famous commission was the gates and railings surrounding Buckingham Palace, made a wide variety of goods in many materials including wood, glass and plaster and which today are becoming very collectable.

The business was founded in 1894 and closed in 1966.