KILLED BY MAKE-UP - TRAGIC 18th CENTURY CELEB'S MIRROR AUCTIONED
She was the 18th century celebrity who made men faint in awe of her beauty by her very presence. But her beauty - and her vanity - led to her demise as the lead-based make-up she insisted on plastering on daily resulted first in the loss of her looks, then deadly blood poisoning. Now the grand 7ft mirror in which Maria Gunning, the former Countess of Coventry, admired her stunning reflection has been auctioned off for more than £300,000. Labelled the first victim of vanity, Maria died aged 27 in 1760 after her love of make-up resulted in her untimely death. The 253-year-old mirror sold well above its estimate even though her condition meant she the society hostess used it for a matter of just months. A glorious George II giltwood overmantel design, it was bought for her by her husband The Sixth Earl of Coventry in 1759, who is said to have been so frustrated by his wife's love of make up that he would chase her around the dinner table with a handkerchief, trying wipe it from her face.
Other great stories
SISTERS BOTH HAVE 1 IN 3.5M DISEASE THAT IS TURNING THEM TO CRYSTAL
Meet the sisters who have both been diagnosed with a one in 3 .
CROCODILE CAVE DIVING PENSIONER
THIS DANGER-mad female pensioner could be the oldest Brit to cage dive with CROCODILES .
CROHN’S SUFFERER HAS HUMILIATING ACCIDENT AFTER CO-OP STAFF REFUSE TOILET ENTRY
A Crohn's sufferer has told of her humiliation after she soiled herself when a Co-op staff member reportedly refused to let her use the toilet .
TOY CAR ADVENTURES
These images of vintage cars, bikes and vans, pictured all over the world, could easily have come from a globetrotting petrol-head’s photo album .
THEY'RE BEHIND YOU!
SURROUNDED by tens of thousands of fish, this outnumbered diver is dwarfed by a mass of sea life .
CHERYL LOOKALIKE SLAMS SKINNY-SHAMING PUBLIC
A Cheryl Fernandez-Versini lookalike has slammed skinny-shamers, after seeing her celebrity doppelganger abused for her tiny frame .
PRAYING MANTIS MAKES AN UNLIKELY FRIEND
A brave praying mantis makes an unusual friend in an Oriental garden lizard .
PET DOG WITH CANCER LEFT TO DIE
CCTV shows a dark figure dumping the dog- A pet dog suffering with cancer has been put down after being dumped at an animal rescue in what officials said is the worst abandonment of any animal they have witnessed .
10-MONTH-OLD SON SUFFERED BURNS TO 35% OF HIS BODY AFTER KNOCKING SCALDING POT OF WATER OVER HIMSELF AT NURSERY
Giancarlo pictured at home during his recovery, wearing his compression garments - A mother-of-three has revealed how her 10-month-old son was severely burnt at nursery .
SUNBATHING OTTER
A lazy otter finds the ideal spot to soak up the sun and sleep off his lunch .
SLEEPING BEAUTIES
Lying angelically with a range of expressions etched on their tiny faces, little bundles of joy are innocently captured in their first few days in these adorable photographs .
PELICANS CLASH OVER FOOD
LIFTING their heads high and bumping beaks, these aggressive pelicans clash over fish .