A BRONZE head by Sir Jacob Epstein, entitled Paolo, fetched its top estimate of £7,000 at James Adam's art sale last Wednesday. Bidding was brisk, with over 90 per cent of the lots sold, the vast majority of them going to private buyers.

Many of the works hovered close to or surpassed their top estimates, including Basil Blackshaw's mixed media Cardboard Trees, which made £3,800. Graham Knuttel's papier mache sculpture Seated King sold for £3,000; Patrick Scott's Gold Painting went under the hammer at £2,000; Felim Egan's Rise made £1,400; and Tim Goulding's Reeds and Reflections no 2, fetched £1,250.

There were no takers for Michael Ashur's brilliant monumental triptych, Asteroid Time Sequence, which had livened up James Adam's window before the auction It had been expected to fetch £2,000 - £4,000, and it is still available from the saleroom.