New world record for antiquities

The world record for any antiquity was broken yesterday when Sotheby's sold this rare Greek vase of the late sixth century BC for pounds 2.2m. It went to an anonymous telephone bidder who ignored the estimate of pounds 200,000 to pounds 300,000. The previous record was pounds 1.2m for a fifth-century brooch, set by Sotheby's in 1987, writes Dalya Alberge.

Among collectors who would be able to afford it are the Getty Museum in California, Sheldon Sollow, the American property dealer, and Leon Levy, the financier.

The vase, is known as a Caeretan hydriae (for carrying water) and is decorated with a bearded, naked warrior battling against a giant sea monster. It was one of 64 vases, dating from the eighth to third century BC, in the Hirschmann Collection of Greek Vases, a private trust.

The entire collection, expected to go for more than pounds 1m, eventually raised more than pounds 5.5m.

(Photograph omitted)