A forgotten collection of vintage travel posters unearthed in a Fakenham attic has fetched more than �22,000 at a prestigious London auction house.Mo Blundy was persuaded by a neighbour to take her collection to the Antiques Roadshow when BBC film crews arrived at Oxburgh Hall, near Swaffham, last July.

A forgotten collection of vintage travel posters unearthed in a Fakenham attic has fetched more than �22,000 at a prestigious London auction house.

Mo Blundy was persuaded by a neighbour to take her collection to the Antiques Roadshow when BBC film crews arrived at Oxburgh Hall, near Swaffham, last July.

After the shock of the initial valuation sank in, she hoped the sale of 13 iconic British Rail images would net her �5,000 when they went under the hammer at Christie's on Wednesday.

But the 62-year-old was stunned when enthusiastic bidders pushed the value beyond her expectations, and now expects to pocket about �17,000 after advertising charges and commissions have been deducted.

The auction lots featured some of the country's most celebrated poster artists and included an image by Frank Mason of The Flying Scotsman steaming along the East Coast rail route to Scotland - which sold for �5,625. Another, depicting a golf course hotel at Cruden Bay, attracted long-distance interest from a collector in Colorado and was eventually sold for �1,875.

Another poster - depicting Ullswater in the Lake District - fetched �4,750.

Ms Blundy said: “I am walking on air - these things usually happen to other people, not me.

“The first two lots didn't reach the lower end of the estimates and I started to get quite worried. But when it got to the bigger posters they just zipped past the estimates.

“I think the Flying Scotsman started at �1,000 and it just kept crawling up, with �100 here and �200 there. My jaw got lower and lower - I just couldn't believe it.”

The posters were originally collected by Ms Blundy's uncle Joseph Puddey, an artist and lithographer who worked for the printing houses of Waterlow and Dangerfield in the 1920s and 1930s.

After “Uncle Joe” died in 1986, she found them in a battered leather suitcase while clearing out his home in St Albans. They eventually moved with her to Fakenham, where their value was recognised by neighbour Eileen Siddle, who accompanied Ms Blundy to London for the auction.