An oak chair once owned by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling fetched as much as $394,000 (£278,000) in auction.

The 1930s chair was one of four mismatched chairs given to Rowling back when she was a relatively unknown writer living at her council flat in Edinburgh.

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Rowling said that sat on that chair while writing two books Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The chair had been auctioned twice prior to the recent sale at the Heritage Auctions in New York on Wednesday.

Rowling once auctioned it for a charitable cause for $21,000. In 2009, it was auctioned off again on eBay, fetching $29,000.

This time, an anonymous buyer shattered expectations with the amount paid for the chair.

Before she donated the chair to Chair-ish, a Child auction in aid of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 2002, Rowling pinned a note on the chair that says: "I wrote Harry Potter in this chair," she wrote.

"Dear new-owner-of-my-chair. I was given four mismatched dining room chairs in 1995 and this was the comfiest one, which is why it ended up stationed permanently in front of my typewriter, supporting me while I typed out 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' and 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," the note reads. "My nostalgic side is quite sad to see it go, but my back isn't."

So what would seller Gerald Gray do with the windfall?

"I plan to donate 10% to JK Rowling's charity, Lumos, because that's what she did in the first place," Gray said.

TagsJ.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, j.k. rowling books, J.K. Rowling chair, j.k. rowling new book