London – A magnificent 2nd century AD Roman bust of the Athenian soldier and historian Thucydides sold for £100,250 at Bonhams Antiquities sale in London today (Tuesday 7 December). It had been estimated at £80,000-120,000. The sale made an overall total of £930,000, with 73% sold by lot and 78% sold by value.

Thucydides (460-404/0 BC) is best known for his History of the Peloponnesian War. He was the first historian to record events as they happened, and to view them from the dispassionate standpoint of political pragmatism.

Francesca Hickin, Bonhams Head of Antiquities, said: "This wonderful bust shows Thucydides as a studious figure, befitting a man who spent so many years researching and recording the causes and the progress of the Peloponnesian War. His monumental History is not only fascinating to read, but it is also still widely studied for its insights into international relations."

The sale also featured Part II of an American collection of Ancient Glass which sold for £77,648. Highlights included a Roman yellowish-green glass 'lotus bud' beaker from around the late 1st Century A.D. Although the bosses on these beakers are likened to lotus buds or almonds, it seems most likely that they are intended to represent the gnarled wood knots of Hercules' club, which was said to have been the trunk of an olive tree. Sold for £6,120 (estimate: £6,000-8,000).

Additionally, a select collection of Anatolian Idols published in the 1960s as part of the Gimpel Fils collection sold for £43,025. It included a large Anatolian marble idol that sold for £27,740 having been estimated at £8,000-12,000.

7 December