'Earliest' Lowry work up for sale

The work has been priced at £50,000

A small sketch believed to be the earliest known work of artist LS Lowry is being sold at a fine arts fair.

The signed pencil and watercolour drawing of yachts sailing has been priced at £50,000.

Lowry, of Salford, Greater Manchester, is thought to have drawn the coastal scene in 1902, when he was 15.

It is being exhibited for sale at the 5th National Fine Art and Antiques Fair, held at the NEC in Birmingham from 16 to 20 January.

Event organiser Duncan Phillips said: "It's very rare for specialist pictures to come on the open market and so when they do, there is always a lot of interest.

"The demand for Lowry has never been greater than it is at the moment."

The artist, who died in 1976, is famous for painting scenes of life in industrial northern England.