Potter teaser sells for £28,680

Potter fans tried to raise enough to buy the teaser

A piece of card containing clues to the next Harry Potter novel has sold for £28,680 at Sotheby's auction house in London.

The 93-word teaser to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, handwritten by author JK Rowling, was put under the hammer to raise money for charity.

Of the gross sale price, £24,000 will go to Book Aid International. The rest of the money was the buyer's premium, said Sotheby's on Thursday.

Book Aid International is a development agency who will use the money to provide 18,500 books for schools in Eritrea and other African countries.

Gebrenegus Berhane, who works at the Eritrean Ministry of Education, said: "This is a really special gift for readers in Eritrea.

"A good book can light up a child's world."

JK Rowling's card went to a US bidder

News of the sale will disappoint a group of Potter fans who organised a worldwide whip-round to buy the card.

The fan site The Leaky Cauldron managed to raise £15,240 to buy the card, but were outbid by an anonymous US bidder.

Some 600 Harry Potter fans worldwide donated money to a website to get a sneak preview of the next JK Rowling novel.

It had a £5,000 reserve price and fans were worried it would be snapped up by a private collector, leaving them in the dark about the next book's plot.

The second Harry Potter film took a number of records in the UK.

It had the highest opening weekend, taking £18.9m including previews, and was the only film to break through the £10m barrier with three days' box office receipts.

The adventure also became the fastest grossing UK film - beating its predecessor to set a new UK record.

The Chamber of Secrets is the only UK film to have taken more than £30m by its second weekend on release.