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
BOY, 15, CAN ONLY EAT FRY UPS DUE TO ONE-IN-14M CONDITION

A schoolboy is the envy of his friends due to a one in 14-million condition which means he can only eat FRY-UPS to survive .

WOMAN SAYS EATING BUBBLES WHILE PREGNANT WAS BETTER THAN SEX

A woman has told how her addiction to eating bath bubbles during her pregnancy was better than SEX .

GOING BALLISTIC - 15 FOOT RED BALL ARTIST

This is the crazy art project that is going ballistic - placing a huge squishy 15ft red ball into tight spaces .

KITTEN IN WHEEL

A panic stricken kitten that got her head stuck in a car tyre has been freed by quick thinking RSPCA staff .

BACKFLIPPING SHARK SOARS DURING SEAL HUNT

Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .

THE DEVIL'S OWN GOAL: CLUB RENAMES STADIUM IN SATAN'S NAME

football club has scored an own goal after it had to embarrassingly rename its stadium in honour of the DEVIL .

MAN AND NATURE

LEAF-ing much to the imagination, this camera trickery is blooming marvellous .

BRAVEHEART: BABY GIRL SURVIVES HEART SWELLING TO SIZE OF ORANGE

A baby girl has become the youngest British patient to receive a life-saving cardiac operation after her heart swelled to twice its normal size within days of her birth .

WOMAN NEARLY DIED AFTER PNEUMONIA TURNED INTO SEPSIS – HER LUNGS COLLAPSED AND HER LIPS TURNED BLUE

A woman has revealed how she almost died after she developed sepsis from a cold .

WOMAN LOSES 9ST AFTER JUNK FOOD ADDICTION LEFT HER £1.5K IN DEBT

An obese woman has lost 9st after an addiction to junk food left her £1 .

MIRACLE MAN SURVIVES 13,000ft FALL WHEN PARACHUTE FAILS

A skydiver cheated death after plunging 13,000 feet without his parachute opening but survived after landing in a bog .

LEFT LOOKING LIKE QUASIMODO AFTER JEALOUS LOVE RIVAL WHACKED ME IN THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER

In May 2021, on the night when Jayde Logan, 31, rekindled her relationship with her ex, she ended up scarred for life .