BIDDERS frantically battled it out to get their hands on antiques ahead of Valentine’s Day - including a painting of lovers which sold for £11,000.

The watercolour painting, dating back to the early 20th century, was only expected to fetch £300 by Colchester auctioneers Reeman Dansie.

But the expert buyer who was in the auction room spotted the signature mark and made it too hot for others to handle.

Auctioneer Daniel Wright said: “There was a lot of pre-sale interest.

“Fairly early on in the day we realised who the artist was, which I am sure from the signature published online, the experts would have already noticed.

“It was a beautiful picture and quite timely that it was sold the day before Valentine’s Day because it was a really romantic depiction.”

The painting, called The Lovers, was in good condition and was by Sailendranath Dey, who belonged to the Indian Neo-Bengal School of Art, around the turn of the 20th century.

Mr Wright said: “There was lots of interest online.

“The picture was ten times the estimate before we started the sale and we had three phone lines on and interest from India.

“But it was a UK buyer who knew precisely who the artist was and knew their work well.”

Mr Wright could not be sure if the purchase was a Valentine’s Day gift.

He said: “It would be nice to think it was the case because we had some expensive jewellery sold which I am sure was going to be gifts for Valentine’s Day.”

Another item which staggered auctioneers was a Japanese vase, which was expected to sell for £100 but went for £28,000.

Publishing the maker’s signature on the base beforehand caught the eye of expert collectors.

Mr Wright said: “That made the difference with this vase.

“It was part of a multiple consignment from a London collection and had been identified as something quite important.

”It went up rapidly but still took five minutes to sell and had multiple phone lines and an awful lot of online bidding. It was getting very exciting.

“Those are the magic times when you are on the rostrum.

“Once it got to £10,000 and there was no sign of bidders dropping out, it is just going furiously, at that point you know it is fairly serious.”

The successful, UK bidder, was on the phone and not in the auction room but likely to have known the maker’s background.

The family selling the item were descendants of Montague Fordham, who died in 1948 and was the first director of the Birmingham Guild and School of Handicrafts.