Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- A 9-carat pair of gold cufflinks that belonged to Ronald “Ronnie” Kray, the younger twin of the U.K.’s most-notorious gangland criminals, fetched 10,000 pounds ($14,000) in London, the priciest lot at a sale of the duo’s items.

The cufflinks, shaped as the initials “RK,” were sold to a U.K. private phone bidder, who bought over 30 pieces at yesterday’s auction of items associated with Ronnie and Reginald “Reggie” Kray, said host Chiswick Auctions. The sold-out 152-lot auction of photographs, postcards, jewelry, clothes and other Kray items fetched 100,000 pounds, before Chiswick’s 17 percent premium.

The Kray twins dominated London’s gangland during the 1950s and “Swinging ‘60s” through a network of nightclubs and protection rackets. In 1969, the Krays were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of mobster George Cornell and hitman Jack “The Hat’’ McVitie. Ronnie, certified insane by the U.K. authorities, died in Broadmoor prison in 1995. Reggie died in 2000, shortly after being released from Wayland prison, Norfolk.

The late artist Francis Bacon’s signed and typewritten letter, dated 27 September, 1989, to Ronnie that briefly thanked him for the receipt of a drawing, sold for 7,400 pounds to an anonymous Internet bidder. The material, offered without reserves or estimates, had been entered by an anonymous “very close friend of the family,” said the west London auction house.

Most of the lots were linked to Ronnie and were authenticated by an inventory from Broadmoor high-security hospital.

The phone bidder who bought the top-priced cufflinks paid 4,800 pounds for a second gold-initialed pair, 3,600 pounds for a 9-carat gold ring bearing “Ron” encrusted in diamonds and two pairs of Ronnie’s Ray-Ban sunglasses for 2,300 pounds each.

Over 80 percent of the lots sold for less than 1,000 pounds.

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: January 27, 2009 02:52 EST