Fairy-fake cameras for sale

The cameras used by two young sisters to create the famous fake images of fairies living at the bottom of their garden are to be sold at auction.

Elsie and Frances Wright used the cameras to make a series of photographs, including one called The Cottingley Fairies which made the headlines in 1917 and astonished the world.

The British-made Midg Falling Plate camera and the Cameo Plate camera are expected to fetch between pounds 500 and pounds 800 at a sale of cameras and optical toys at Christie's in March.

The Cottingley picture attracted interest from Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle, amongst others, until the truth was discovered.

The most famous of all the photographs, Frances and the Fairies, was taken in July 1917 with the Midg camera.