Star Trek sale stuns auctioneers

Miniature model of the Enterprise-D

A model of the Starship Enterprise has sold for $576,000 (£308,000) at an auction of memorabilia from 40 years of the science fiction television series.

Before the sale, Christie's auction house in New York estimated the model would sell for about $30,000 (£16,000).

The 78-inch-long (198cm) miniature of the Enterprise-D, used in the title sequences of Star Trek: The Next Generation, made its TV debut in 1987.

More than 1,000 Star Trek items were sold over three days at the auction.

Built by Industrial Light and Magic, the model was first used in the 1987 Star Trek episode Encounter at Farpoint, and also appeared in the film Star Trek Generations.

Warp speed sales

William Shatner starred as Captain James T Kirk in the original series

Estimates were regularly surpassed during the three-day auction in Manhattan, with fans spending more than $7.1m (£3.8m) for set furniture, pointy Vulcan ears and other props.

Other top sellers on Saturday's auction included a replica of Captain James T Kirk's command chair from the bridge of the spaceship on the original Star Trek series.

Despite being a reproduction, the painted wood chair used in a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fetched $62,400 (£33,350).

A costume belonging to the original series' Dr McCoy was sold for $144,000 (£77,000).