World famous Tennis Girl poster dress bought for staggering £15k at auction!

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The world famous Athena Tennis Girl poster featured a female player revealing her bare bum by hitching up the now famous dress Credit: Fieldings Auctioneers

A white tennis dress, made famous in the iconic Athena Tennis Girl poster of the 1970s, has been sold for a staggering £15,500 at an auction in the West Midlands.

The dress - along with two of the original posters and a tennis racquet - went under the hammer at Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge on Saturday, just as the Wimbledon ladies final got underway.

The lot had only expected to sell for between £1,000 and £2,000 - but that was 'smashed' immediately with the bidding starting at £5,400...

It was eventually bought by a mysterious telephone bidder, who remained anonymous.

Auctioneer, Nick Davies, said:

The now 55-year-old Fiona Walker, who modelled the dress aged 18, with an original copy of the poster Credit: Fieldings Auctioneers

A few things you might not know about the famous image:

  • The dress was modelled by Fiona Walker - 18-years-old when the picture was taken in 1976 - who borrowed the dress, along with the racquet and a pair of her dad's white plimsols for the shoot.

  • The photo was taken by her boyfriend at the time, a photographer called Martin Elliot, on a Birmingham University tennis court.

  • Mr Elliot passed away in 2010, aged 63.

  • The image went on to become one of the best-selling posters of all time, purchased by millions around the world.