at Sotheby's yesterday.

But the identity of the purchaser was still unknown last night.

Masterworks said it did not bid on the paintings, and the Bermuda Archives had not heard late yesterday whether it had been successful in its bid for the paintings.

A watercolour of Commissioners' House, framed on one mount with paintings of an Interior and a sailing boat at sea, sold for 2,200, the Bond Street London auction house reported.

Earlier, Sotheby's had said that lot was expected to sell for between 800 and 1,000.

A portfolio of watercolours depicting scenes of St. David's Head, Tucker's Cave, Mangrove Trees, and Somerset Isle, fetched 1,900. That lot had been expected to sell for 700-1,000.

All the works are by unknown artists and date from around the 1870s. "I was pleased,'' Sotheby's watercolour department director Ms Karen Taylor told The Royal Gazette . "There was competition for them in the room, and also on the telephone.

"The prices they realised were good strong prices.'' Ms Taylor said there was one bidder in the auction house and two on the telephone for each lot, and both were purchased by the same telephone bidder.

But the successful bidder wished to remain anonymous, she said.

At Masterworks, trustee Mr. Tom Butterfield said the non-profit foundation that repatriates Bermudiana decided not to bid on the paintings at the request of then Culture and Community Affairs Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons.

"He felt very strongly they were more archival material than we were collecting,'' and belonged in the Bermuda Archives, Mr. Butterfield said.

"Rather than get into a bidding war, we decided to withdraw.'' Mr. Butterfield expressed surprise at the prices paid for the paintings and said he had no idea who bought them. "From our point of view the main thing was that they were coming home, one way or the other,'' he said.

"I'm hopeful that whoever got them is going to share them'', by exhibiting them for the public.

The high prices were a two-edged sword, because they showed the value of Bermudiana as an investment but made acquisitions more difficult, he said.

Archives Curator Mr. John Adams said the Archives did not bid directly on the paintings. "A private benefactor had agreed to bid on them, and if he was successful, had agreed to place them in the Archives,'' Mr. Adams said.

Late yesterday, he was still waiting to hear whether the benefactor was the successful bidder.

Local art dealer Mr. Anthony Pettit said he made two bids by facsimile machine on each lot. His last bids were 1,500 on the Commissioner's House lot and 1,750 on the portfolio, he said.