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London (dpa) - Personal belongings of Agatha Christie fetched 304,000 pounds (568,000 dollars) at auction as the work and life of the famous British crime writer "touched the imagination" of bidders from around the world.
Auction house Bearne's in Exeter, south-west Britain, said Wednesday that the sale of more than 700 personal items belonging to Christie had exceeded all expectations.
Buyers from Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, the US and Canada flocked to the sale, happy to come away with "small items" to remind them of the magic and mystery of the world's most famous crime writer, Bearne's spokesman Andrew Thomas said.
"The atmosphere was electric. She just touches peoples' imagination," he said.
This was particularly true of writer's books, which fetched a total of 41,700 pounds. A first edition of Death on the Nile, from 1937, sold for 2,400 pounds - four times its estimate.
The lots, which included vases, pictures, prints, furniture and jewellery, were kept by Christie at Greenway House, her holiday home near Exeter.
Christie, who died in 1976, bought the lavish 18th century mansion in 1938, but never wrote any of her books there.
Her family put the unique personal items up for sale to finance renovation work on Greenway House, which is due to open to the public in 2008.
Christie's books have sold more than one billion copies in the English language, and another billion in more than 45 foreign languages.
It is claimed that she is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
