About 80% of the work sold was fine art such as paintings and sculpture, followed by ceramics and jewellery.

BBC: Loans for art trigger ?10m sales

Philip Hoffman, who used to work for Christie's and last year founded the Fine Art Fund, says that more than 80% of its purchases are made directly from owners and attract no commission.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

The work, an interactive multi-media installation incorporating audio, fine art photography and object sculpture, is on show at the The Briggait Gallery, Glasgow from 27 February to 22nd March 2013 having been shown in scaled down form at HMP Barlinnie last year.

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"We really believed you could damage the prospect of selling even a very fine work if it was overestimated, " said David Norman, co-chairman of Impressionist and modern art.

BBC: Renoir sells for ?14.5m