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.
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A GIRL nicknamed JAWS by bullies who taunted her because of her underbite is em-bracing her new post-surgery life .
FEAST your eyes on the £500K coin-covered Range Rover that could be the world’s most blinged-out car .
A woman with a rare condition that means she collapses every time she laughs fears she may have passed the rare illness onto her young son .
An intrepid explorer hopes to be reunited with his travel partner, after his cuddly toy companion was stolen .
Leaping out of the ocean, a group of gentoo penguins fly through the air before landing safely on an iceberg .
In 2021, Anneka Watkinson, now 37, from Lancashire, met Chris, now 40 .