MORE than three-quarters of the 240 lots were soId at the spring auction of Irish paintings held by John Ross & Co of Belfast. By far the best price was made by a Colin Middleton oil; called Allotments, Annadale Embankment, it went for £4,500, considerably more than the £2,600 which was paid for a painting by Charles McAuley.

A pair of Percy French watercolours of reeds and bogland in Connemara sold for £3,000, a Markey Robinson oil of a village in the south of Spain went under the hammer at £1,500, a Brian Ballard view of Holywood, Co Down, fetched £2,300 and a Frank McKelvey watercolour of cattle feeding in Donegal sold for £1,700.

Other prices include: £1,500 for both a Charles McAuley oil and a Helen O'Hara watercolour; £1,400 for a Percy French watercolour; £1,100 for a William Conor watercolour; and £950 for an oil of a cellist by Rowland Davidson.