A number of medals awarded to Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton have raised £585,000 at auction.

Fifteen British and foreign awards contained in 12 lots went under the hammer at Christie's in London.

A lot of four British medals easily surpassed the £30,000 estimate to sell for £230,500.

The decorations were the Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Shackleton was knighted as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in recognition of the 1907-1909 Nimrod Expedition when he reached the furthest south ever explored.

Sir Ernest's Chilean Order of Merit beat the guide price of £4,000 to £6,000 to go for £74,500.

The medal recognises the survival and rescue of his crew after the ship Endurance was crushed by ice in 1915.

A Royal Geographical Society's Silver Medal, awarded for the the successful British Antarctic expedition aboard Discovery, more than doubled the £40,000 estimate to sell for £86,500.

Born in Co Kildare in 1874, Shackleton was aiming to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent on his fourth expedition when he died of a heart attack off South Georgia in 1922.

The medals were sold as part of Christie's Travel, Science and Natural History auction.

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Sir Ernest Shackleton medals raise £585,000 at auction (www.bbc.com/news/uk-34482326)