Lawrence of Arabia relics at auction

The compass which helped to create the legend of Lawrence of Arabia, steering him across the desert on a camel during the Arab revolt against the Turks in 1916-18, was sold yesterday for £264,000, together with a cheap watch and an inscribed cigarette case.

The startling price at the Christie's auction - paid by an anonymous telephone bidder, vastly over a top pre-sale estimate of £16,000 - was testament to the world's enduring fascination with a slight, awkward man, who died in a motorcycle crash in 1935, aged 46.

Posted by David on September 27, 2006 10:17 PM