A CARDBOARD box has fetched a world record price at a North-East auction.

The empty box from the turn of the century once contained a set of British toy soldiers.

It fetched £1,265 when it was sold by Teesside auction house Vectis on May 21, as part of the Potsdam toy collection, when more than 80,000 model soldiers were sold.

The box, described as in fair condition, once contained a "Charterhouse Sand Bag Encampment" which would have included a supply of miniature sandbags, cannons, tents, soldiers, Union Flag and enemy troops.

The enemy in this case, according to an illustration on the front of the box, was a group of Mahdi warriors.

Expert Peter Rumsey said: "It was very rare and is certainly the highest price ever received for an empty toy soldier box. The set would have been made around the late 1930s and Charterhouse produced a variety of toy soldiers."

The auction, which made more than £128,000, is being held on two dates. The second half, when the rest of the collection goes on sale, is on October 15 and is likely to make even more.

The Potsdam collection of miniature figures was founded in 1928 by Frederich-Wilhelm Meisner, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Imperial guard in Berlin.

Over 70 years, the collection grew to one of the largest and most important of its kind in Europe.