Jack Nicholson's 'The Shining' axe sold for 170k pounds at auction

The axe wielded by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's classic horror "The Shining" fetched 170,000 pounds at an auction here.

According to The Independent, the item sold for four times its original estimated selling price at the Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, which was held at the BFI Imax in Waterloo.

Known as a fire axe, the prop is approximately three feet in length, with a wooden handle and foot-long blade that is an inch thick.

It is reportedly in excellent condition, except a few scratches from long shooting days on the sets.

In the movie, a film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name, writer Jack Torrance (played by Nicholson) has a mental breakdown while caretaking the fictional Overlook hotel for the winter season.

Torrance eventually wields the axe and chases his family around the hotel, at one point breaking down a bathroom door with the weapon while his terrified wife (Shelley Duvall) hides inside.

The axe was one of 900 items sold between September 30 and October 1, which also included Russell Crowe's "Gladiator" armour and the lightsaber used by Mace Windu, aka Samuel L Jackson, in "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith".