A LION skin from a Whitchurch venue and a collection of model trains were top picks at a fine art sale this month.

Halls Fine Art sale last Wednesday had a number of highlights, including the lion skin from Percy’s Café Bar which exceeded its £500-£600 estimate to take a winning bid of £650.

Also up for auction was a Victorian silver gilt snuff box with an Edwardian example that made the same sum, against an estimate of £100-£150.

It was the ‘O’ gauge scale model locomotive collection that stole the limelight though.

This collection took a collective £8,335 and every example sold above the upper estimate, with one exception that sold for a mid-estimate sum.

The collection had been consigned by a private source in north Shropshire and had been handled with kid gloves by the collector, with each train having a foam-lined pine carrying box.

Consequently, the condition was very good and the quality was above par, ensuring each lot was keenly contested.

The top lot was the model of Dartmouth Castle that sold for a hammer price of £480.

A large scale model of a railway station, paintings of locomotives by Bernard Jones and more scale model locomotives from the same estate will appear in the next antique and interiors sale on June 2.