Christie auction raises £303,000

Greenway was a holiday home and a retreat for Agatha Christie

A sale of hundreds of items from Agatha Christie's home in South Devon has raised more than £300,000.

Christie lived at Greenway House, near Brixham, for 38 years. The auction included signed first editions, prints, pictures, furniture and jewellery.

Auctioneers said items were eagerly snapped up by collectors and fans, and the sale raised £303,000, which was twice the amount expected.

Nearly 2,000 people registered to bid for 700 lots in the seven-hour sale.

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A collection of 30 Agatha Christie early or first editions, of which 28 were signed by the author, sold for almost £42,000 in total.

The top-selling book was a 1937 first edition of "Death on the Nile", inscribed "Punkie from Agatha". It was sold for £2,400 despite an estimated selling price of £400 to £600.

Three fountain pens, a bottle of Indian ink, a leather-bound address book and some Greenway House writing paper were sold for £740.

The top-selling item of the day was a rare, small Irish silver Monteith [punchbowl] circa 1700, which sold for £9,500.

The sale includes first edition signed books

Dame Agatha's books have sold more than one billion copies in the English language and another billion in more than 45 foreign languages.

She grew up in Torquay where her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was begun.

She bought Greenway in 1938. Although she never wrote any of her books there, it became a holiday home and a retreat for her until her death in 1976.

The house was gifted to the National Trust in 2000 by Dame Agatha's daughter, Rosalind Hicks, and her husband, Anthony.

The house is currently undergoing a multi-million pound restoration and is due to be reopened in 2008.

Andrew Thomas of Bearne's of Exeter said: "The sale atmosphere was electric but, more importantly, a considerable sum has been raised which will help the National Trust's restoration of Greenway House for all to enjoy in future."