COTTEES Auctions of Wareham have proved that small auction rooms can achieve big results as they sold a modern art collection for £15,000.

The auction house ventured into the modern art market this month with works by Paul Nash, Fred Yates and Lawrence Durrell going under the hammer.

An original watercolour and pencil sketch by Paul Nash was sold for a sale topping £6,325.

This was an early sketch for his major work 'The Whiteleaf Cross' which hangs in the Whitworth gallery in Manchester.

The painting at Cottees shows the picture in winter and was originally sold at the Redfern gallery in 1935.

Letters, original photographs and one other watercolour by Nash were consigned by the same family to Cottees.

The family had hosted Nash in Dorset in the 1930's and 40's and became great friends, often travelling around the county together whilst Nash sketched and photographed local sights and monuments, which he was to later use in his renowned surrealist paintings.

The total collection sold for £15,000.

Lawrence Durrell is more famed as a writer than an artist, but a large collection of his works were entered by another vendor directly descended from the artist.

Durrell often signed his work under the name Oscar Epfs and several pictures bore this signature.

Ten original works as well as books and ephemera relating to Durrell sold for a total £7,300.

Fred Yates is a modern artist with a brash colourful style often compared with L.S Lowry and two works of local Swanage scenes sold for £1,100 and £1,000.

John Condie of Cottees said: "I was very pleased with the results of the sale and all the works by the major artists that we featured were a 100 per cent sell out proving that small auction rooms can achieve big results."