Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The unfashionable collecting category of Victorian art received a boost last night at Sotheby's in London, when the collection of the late U.K. diplomat David Scott sold for 4.6 million pounds ($6.8 million) with fees.

Eighty-eight percent of the auction's 242 lots found buyers. While the sale, with auction-house fees, missed its total presale estimate of 5 million pounds based on hammer prices, dealers said it was more successful than recent Victorian-art auctions.

Described by London dealer Rupert Maas as ``the finest collection of Victorian narrative paintings left in private hands,'' the works had been bought by Scott, a knight and World War I veteran, over several decades. Scott died in 1986 at the age of 99.

``We haven't seen the galleries and the saleroom as full and busy for a Victorian picture sale for many years,'' said Grant Ford, Sotheby's specialist in charge of the auction, in an e- mailed statement.

A record 1 million pounds with fees was paid for Sophie Anderson's sentimental 1850s oil, ``No Walk Today,'' showing an elaborately dressed little girl gazing dejectedly through a window at falling rain. The 19-inch-high canvas, bought by Scott in 1926, had been expected to fetch between 600,000 pounds and 800,000 pounds. The buyer was an anonymous bidder at the back of the saleroom who left immediately after making his purchase.

Ford said the collection had especially attracted attention from ``our established clients in the U.K.''

Auction Records

Anderson was one of at least 14 artists who set auction records. A Pre-Raphaelite-style ``Welsh Landscape With Two Women Knitting'' by William Dyce, dating from 1860, was bought by a European collector on the telephone for a record 541,250 pounds with fees, more than double the presale lower estimate.

The same European buyer paid a further 612,450 pounds with fees for a smaller version of John Everett Millais's Pre- Raphaelite masterpiece, ``Christ in the House of his Parents,'' painted in collaboration with Rebecca Solomon. It carried a low estimate of 300,000 pounds.

``In normal conditions this sale wouldn't have done as well,'' said London dealer Julian Hartnoll, who underbid the Dyce landscape. ``It's all down to Sotheby's marketing and the fact that it's a one-man collection,'' he said in an interview.

Highly estimated Victorian paintings without a Pre- Raphaelite connection or any obvious decorative appeal struggled to attract bids. Richard Dadd's ``Puck,'' Emily Mary Osborn's ``Nameless and Friendless'' and John Anster Fitzgerald's ``The Dream after the Masked Ball'' were all unsold against valuations of about 500,000 pounds.

Proceeds of the auction benefited the Finnis Scott Foundation, a charitable organization established by his widow, Valerie Finnis, who died in 2006.

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

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

Last Updated: November 20, 2008 06:29 EST