PM's art cheaper than 'fake'

An authentic doodle by Prime Minister Helen Clark sold for $600 at an auction last night - 15 per cent of the price paid last month for a suspected fake.

A spokeswoman for Dunbar Sloane auctioneers in Auckland said Tree of Hope, a felt-pen sketch drawn by Miss Clark in October 2001 for an art sale at St Peter's College, had been expected to fetch between $300 and $600.

In 1999 an artwork signed by Miss Clark was sold for $1000 at a charity auction before it was revealed she was not the artist.

Miss Clark has refused to confirm whether she is responsible for a another doodle of the Beehive, which has sold twice this year for $4000.

Meanwhile, a brass boiler-plate from the train involved in the Tangiwai disaster on Christmas Eve 1953, in which 151 people died, did not sell, failing to reach its reserve. Its value had been estimated at between $10,000 and $15,000.