A GOLD-NIBBED pen belonging to Trowbridge-born shorthand pioneer Sir Isaac Pitman fetched six times its asking price at an auction on Monday.

The pen, which went for £705, was included in a collection of more than 300 of Sir Isaac's possessions sold at Bonhams' Bath showroom.

While the high prices demonstrated the inventor's enduring historical significance they meant Trowbridge Museum's bidder came home empty-handed.

Sir Isaac is known as the Father of Phonographic Shorthand, and his pen had been valued at between £80 and £120.

Following some very competitive bidding, a Bonham's spokesman revealed the pen was snapped up by a private buyer who knows shorthand and intends to try it out.

He added: "We knew there would be a tremendous interest, but obviously the pen did really well and surpassed our expectations."

Sir Isaac was born in Trowbridge in 1813 and by the time he died in 1897 had become world famous for inventing the rapid handwriting system that took his name.

Monday's auction also featured furniture, rugs, ceramics and other art from his family home, Eastcourt House in Malmesbury.

Sales included a rare first edition of Sir Isaac's stenographic shorthand from 1837, which fetched £763 and a £2,115 manuscript volume of his correspondence in shorthand between 1839 and 1843.

Trowbridge Museum curator Clare Lyall said: "We were not completely surprised by the prices. He was an international figure and what he developed had implications for a lot of people.

"A representative from the Friends of Trowbridge Museum went along, but unfortunately the prices meant we couldn't afford to buy anything. The pen was a lot more expensive than it was valued in the catalogue."

Miss Lyall said Pitman's shorthand was one of the 19th century's greatest inventions and its impact could not be underestimated.

She said: "Someone has compared it to the impact computers had."