JK Rowling's Harry Potter writing chair fetchs £278,000 at auction

The chair in which JK Rowling sat while she penned the first two books of the Harry Potter series has sold for $394,000 (£278,000).

It was sold at Heritage Auctions in New York on Wednesday, but it was not the first time the 1930s-era oak chair had been up sale. It's been auctioned twice before, once by Rowling herself to raise money for charity.

It was one of four mismatched chairs given to the then little-known writer for her flat in Edinburgh.

Seated in it, she wrote Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets.

Before she parted ways with the chair, she painted on it: "You may not/find me pretty/but don't judge/on what you see."

She also wrote: "I wrote/Harry Potter/while sitting/on this chair."

The seller, Gerald Gray, is donating 10% of the sale from the anonymous private buyer to Rowling's children's charity, Lumos.

Gray, from Worsley, Greater Manchester, said the winning bid far exceeded his expectations.

He bought the chair in 2009 after his daughter, a Harry Potter fan, saw it on eBay.

He added he would like to see the new buyer display the chair somewhere where children could appreciate it, perhaps in a museum or theme park.