"Queen down to her last million" was one of the headlines this week but the most unlikely, peripheral items can acquire considerable value through the power of royal provenance.

A blue and white-
painted sentry box, used by soldiers standing guard outside Buckingham Palace, sold at auction for £15,000 (€18,000), more than double the high estimate, at Bonhams in London on Wednesday.

The box is of a type used until 1992 and was sold, not by the Queen, but by a former equerry who had received it as a retirement gift.

The BBC reported that graffiti carved on the inside of the box, which sheltered soldiers of the Household Division on guard duty, dates back to the 1950s and includes the name “Cindy”.