DORCHESTER, England—An early work by Damien Hirst, made in the late 1980s, is headed for bid next month, but not at a London auction house, as many might expect for a piece by an artist of Hirst’s prominence.

Duke’s in Dorchester will be selling Red Rubber Ball, an assemblage of various found objects, including a plastic toy rabbit, a doll's severed head, and a dried rose, which are covered with spattered paint on a support made of wood. It has been valued at between £30,000 and £50,000 ($48,000 and $73,000). In 1990 Hirst gave the piece as a gift to the present owner, Julie Balmforth, who studied fine art at Goldsmiths College in London with him. As to why she chose Duke’s instead of a major London auction house, she cites its reputation and notes that it is run by "authentic" people.

Read more at the Antrim Times.