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.
RECORD BREAKING GRAN'S COLLECTION OF NEARLY 800 SHEEP HOTSPOT MEDIA – WITH PICS 0121 551 1004 By Katie Thompson A record-breaking baa-rmy gran with a love for sheep has amassed a collection of nearly 800 woolly wonders .
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
WITH A STERN look of determination on their faces, these adorable pooches perfect their doggy paddle as they dive head first into a swimming pool .
A GLOWING range of greens and blues sweep across the sky in a spectacular display of light .
This artist had a lot of bottle to re-create a masterpiece painted with nothing but 24 litres of cola .
A woman has revealed how she didn’t know she was pregnant until she saw her baby’s head crowning .
A rare manuscript of one of Charlotte Bronte’s earliest poems went under the hammer today and fetched nearly £100,000 – double what it was expected to get .
A little clownfish opens its mouth to reveal a blood sucking intruder living on its tongue .
LIKE A living balloon this baitball of sardines is ready to burst when threatened by a pointy nosed sailfish .
WELCOME to the 750-foot deep rainbow cave that leaves visitors bewildered by its multi-coloured mood lighting .
AN ANOREXIC dental nurse whose weight plummeted to less than four stone has won her NHS fight for more treatment .