Saved by the hammer -- one of the earliest drawings of Singapore

Book containing early photographs of Singapore sells for £43,000

It's 180 years old, contains one of the first images ever taken of Singapore and was just sold for the nifty price of £43,000 (approximately S$91,000). The unbound album titled 'Views of the China Seas & Macao taken during Capt. D. Ross' Surveys by M. Houghton' was rescued from a bonfire before coming under the auction hammer.

It was originally expected to fetch no more than £3,000, but books consultant Bill Hoade, from Netherhampton Salerooms, noticed one of the 40 drawings in the book was of Singapore from 1819 upon closer inspection. It was subsequently sold to an anonymous London bookseller for the much higher sum.

Hoade said to UK's Telegraph that "this drawing is one of the earliest drawings of Singapore. The more I found out the history of the drawings, the more interesting the book became. By the time I had done all the research I could, I knew it would fetch upwards of 20,000 pounds."