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Two sketches by artist LS Lowry have fetched more than twice their expected price at auction.

The life drawings were composed at evening classes in Manchester in about 1916 - the year before Lowry began his famous urban "matchstick" paintings.

The sketches were estimated to fetch up to £5,000 each but they reached £18,100 in total at the sale in Suffolk.

"It was a delight to sell them and let's hope some more turn up," said Philip Stone, auctioneer with Durrants.

The first sketch, a seated frontal pose, went for £5,700, while the other, a side-on seated pose, fetched £12,400.

Both pictures measure about 50cm x 80cm and were done in a sketchpad.

Mr Stone said the sale of the sketches, in Beccles, was a "a pleasure".

"They were drawn about a year before he started 'matchsticks' and that makes them completely different because it's not what people expect," he said.

"Because they were done in a life class, they've got his finger marks all over them; they've got mistakes and they're very interesting."

The sketches were sold by a man from Great Yarmouth who bought them for £3,800 in 1989.

The auction coincided with an exhibition of Lowry's work which opened at Tate Britain in London this week.