Nelson artefacts make £2m

The 'Nile sword' fetched four times its estimated value

Horatio Nelson fever swept a packed London auction room as a collection of the admiral's belongings were sold at sky-high prices.

"The atmosphere was electric, and there was very aggressive bidding both in the room and by telephone," a spokeswoman for the auction house Sotheby's said.

The 93 lots, which had been expected to fetch more than £1m, sold for £2.1m.

Star item was Norfolk-born Lord Nelson's sword from the Battle of the Nile, which reached £336,650 - far more than the pre-sale estimate of £60-80,000.

Sea captains

The sword was believed to have been presented to Nelson by Sultan Selim III, after the admiral's victory against the French in 1798.

Close behind was a blood-stained silk purse Nelson was carrying when he was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, which went for £270,650.

The purse was part of a collection which had belonged to Nelson's friend Alexander Davison and had remained hidden from the public for almost two centuries.

The items were found by descendents of his Northumberland-born friend Davison.

A 'Nile sword' made for sea captains who fought in the Battle of the Nile also fetched £270,650.

Nelson's purse sold for £270,650

The sword carries an engraving of the destruction of the French flagship L'Orient and has a gilt crocodile-shaped hilt.

The sums were far in excess of their pre-sale estimates.

The Nelson Museum in Great Yarmouth failed to buy a letter written by the naval hero.

The museum's best offer of £4,000 was well short of the £24,000 winning bid.

Sotheby's jewellery director Martyn Downer uncovered the collection last year after he visited descendants of Alexander Davison, Nelson's friend and banker, to research a diamond brooch.

A collection of 72 letters from Nelson's wife Frances was acquired by the National Maritime Museum.

The collection, amassed during Nelson's life by Davison is being sold by his descendants.