A RARE poster which captures a famous moment in Southampton's maritime history could be lost to the city forever.

The poster, designed by artist Donald Maxwell to mark the opening of King George V graving dock on July 26, 1933, is to be auctioned at Christie's in London next month.

Experts predict the poster, which was commissioned by Southern Railway, will fetch around £1,200. Christie's expert Nicolette White said the sale had already attracted a lot of attention in the United States.

"It could well be sold overseas, unless someone locally can come up with the money. It is a real piece of history, especially for Southampton.

There aren't a lot of posters around from that time, so it is rare." Up to 1,200 copies of the poster may have been displayed on walls and trains at the time, but very few are likely to exist now. This is the first poster of the event Christie's has come across, said Ms White. Don Ross-Osborne, manager of maritime memorabilia shop Cobwebs in Northam, said it would be an outrage if the poster moved outside Britain. "The council should buy it for one of their museums. It would be sacrilege if this piece of history was lost to Southampton." A council spokesman said: "We will be making further inquiries into the sale."

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.