A MINATURE statue bought for £4 at a car boot sale has netted one lucky pensioner £9,500 at auction in a "Buddhist bonanza".

The woman ,from Midhurst originally purchased the 6.5in bronzed figurine without any idea of its worth.

But when she got the little sculpture examined by experts it was revealed to be up to 300 years old.

The figurine was found to be an 18th century Sino Tibetan sculpture which they originally said was worth £500 to £700.

It is a sculpture of the multi-armed Hayagriva, a Tantric Buddhist deity, and his consort,

And when it went up for sale last week she netted £9,500 - more than 2,000 times what the pensioner had paid for it.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I still can't believe it. "When the hammer went down I was stunned and close to tears.

"I just loved it when I bought it two or three years ago. I thought it was different, but I couldn't believe it would go for anything like that amount."

The figure was auctioned at John Nicholson's of Fernhurst.

Auction house owner John Nicholson said: "We couldn't have been more pleased. The Asian art market, including traditional Chinese works, has softened recently, so prices are not what they were.

"With that in mind we put an estimate of £500-700 on it, so the eventual price really was exceptional. I suppose you could say it was a bit of a Buddhist bonanza for the consignor."

In legend Hayagriva has the power to cure diseases, especially skin diseases such as leprosy.

The simplest form of the Hayagriva deity - a supernatural being - is depicted with one face, two arms and two legs.

He is full of aggression with a broad belly and carrying a sword.

He is usually red or black in colour with one or three green horse heads on top of his crown.