'Trafalgar Square' lions fetch £127K at Sussex auction

A pair of bronze lions modelled on those in London's Trafalgar Square have sold for £127,000 in West Sussex.

The statues, identical in size to the originals, but made in the late 20th Century for Camden Lock Market, were expected to go for £60,000 to £100,000.

Auctioneer James Rylands said the iconic duo "sold above expectations".

The lions were billed as the highlight of the Conversation Pieces sale held at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst.

The lions from Camden were originally commissioned in the early 1990s as part of a redevelopment of the site by architect John Dickinson, auctioneers said.

Sir Edwin Landseer, famous for his paintings and sculptures of animals, particularly horses, dogs and stags, made the four originals in Trafalgar Square.

The auction house said his best known works were the four lions, which he was commissioned to make in 1858 and which were installed in 1867 at the base of Nelson's column.

The copies went to a private collector in the UK.