A World War Two German dagger raised more than £1,000 for charity at a Cumbrian auction.
The Third Reich dagger frog, marked 1938 with a leather sheath, was estimated to make between £350 to £400 at Mitchells Country Sporting Sale.
The dagger was originally acquired by a dispatch rider from the Fifth Royal Enniskillen Dragoon Guards when he viited Bergen Belsen prisoner of war camp just just after it was liberated. The dagger belonged to one of the officers who had been guarding the camp.
It sold for £1,200 to a private collector bidding online and the vendor instructed that the proceeds go to Cancer Research.
The auction, held in Mitchells’ Cockermouth saleroom, also saw over 50 lots of traditional and modern taxidermy fetch top prices.
The most valuable lot in the sale was a Van Ingen of Mysore Leopard shoulder mount sold for £2,000 with other Van Ingen taxidermy also doing well including a tiger skin rug with mounted head which made £550 and a leopard skin rug with mounted head sold for £420.
A female sparrowhawk by H Murray of Carnforth mounted in a picture frame five-sided glazed case made £440 against an estimate of £250-£350.
Several modern mounts by Robert Reed, of Sussex Taxidermy, were also sold, the most valuable a pair of Mink underwater and a brace of brown trout, which both made £400.
The most valuable gun was a George Armstrong Whitworth type Rifle sold for £1,100 to a local collector and top shotgun was a London Sporting Park Ltd.
The Watts 16 bore side by side shotgun which made £750 against an estimate of £300-£500. A rare gamekeepers flintlock swing gun circa 1820 sold for £440.
A wooden pigeon decoy with glass eyes with an estimate of only £50-£80 sold for £260.
Top lot in the fishing section was a Hardy The Perfect slmon fly reel, duplicatred Mk2 with 4.5 inch wide drum which sold for £400 against an estimate of £180-£220.
The next sale will be held from October 12 to 14.
