A LEAD statue, similar to a popular statue in Bromsgrove High Street, has sold for an impressive figure at auction.

The dryad and boar statue is similar to the one near Bromsgrove Post Office as it depicts a boy hunter, with curly hair, attacking a wild boar who stands behind him.

The lead statue, found hidden in bushes, was auctioned by Fieldings Auctioneers at its house in Stourbridge last Saturday, (March 9).

With a guide price of around £4,000 Mark Hannam, Fieldings’ senior valuer and auctioneer, said everyone was gripped by a fierce bidding war which broke out over the item.

He said bids were made not only in the room, but also on the phone.

The item, crafted by the world-famous Bromsgrove Guild, in the end sold for a staggering £35,000 to a private collector.

Mr Hanman added that although they had hoped it would exceed the estimate price, as there had not been a similar item from the guild sold in recent years, everyone was astonished by the result.

The High Street version was made by the late Terry Simons, of Bromsgrove Guild Concrete Products, who donated it to mark the pedestrianisation of High Street in 1983.