The oils and watercolours in the sale at Anderson & Garland represent the result of recent free valuation days by the firm held at Berwick and Kelso and recognises the rising value of the work of these artists over recent years.

The firm's local representative, one-time Berwick auctioneer Jack Dudgeon, said: "The work of artists either born in Scotland and the Borders, or which feature subjects from these areas has seen a phenomenal increase in prices at auction since the mid 1990s.

"Top of the list is Methil, in Fife, born Jack Vettriano, an example of whose work is featured in this section of our usual fine art sale. A record figure of £744,800 was realised for his Singing Butler a couple of years ago.

"Our smaller painting of a young woman pictured at a riverside walkway is expected to fetch only a fraction of this sum but should nevertheless sell for many thousands of pounds.

"Also featured in this section of the sale are a number of other heavyweights among Scotland and Border top sellers. Among the more affordable, however, is likely to be a delightful sketch of Berwick Market Place by William Fergie, born in the town in 1893 and later an occasional illustrator for the Advertiser.

"Fergie's work is a classic example of the increasing demand for work of his type having become over the last few sales in which we have featured him, more and more valued."