STANDSTED MOUNTFITCHET, U.K. — Bidders were not scared by the relatively poor condition of a rare 15-inch-tall, modeled plaster figure of Mephistopheles or Satan after Jean-Jacques Feuchere (French, 1807-1852) that was the top lot in Sworders’ two-day “Out of the Ordinary” sale February 15-16. After considerable interest, largely from the United Kingdom and France, it sold to a French private collector, bidding on the phone, for $12,022, nearly 30 times its high estimate. The 626-lot sale was the fifth edition of the popular annual event, which offers oddities in every category, from the mythic to the macabre to the medical, and everything in between. It achieved a total of $299,200.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium and have been converted to US Dollars. A more extensive sale recap will appear in a future issue.