i newspaper, December 7, 2017
(44 words) It is not mandatory to use the cliche ‘under the hammer’ in every story involving an auction. It is especially important to avoid it when you produce such a silly image. This applies to all sorts of items such as paintings, cars and Ming vases. There are also a lot of wasted words in this piece which could have been used to give more details about the specs, which in fact were not worn by him, though you don’t need to spell this out.
I would have put:
A pair of Sir Winston Churchill’s tortoiseshell spectacles have been auctioned for £6,000, three times the £2,000 estimate. The round-framed reading glasses in a leather case were made by his opticians C W Dixey & Sons and were sold on Wednesday by Catherine Southon Auctioneers. (45 words)