Its starting price was set at R180,000 but an 18th-century commode fetched R2.6-million at an auction in Cape Town on Monday. As usual, the auctioneers took bids from the room first - a grand salon at the Vineyard Hotel, in Claremont - and the figures were "already strong".The commode, with its foliate mounts and ornate handles, is made of rosewood and dates back to the Régence, a period in French history between 1715 and 1723.After hearing bids from the room, the auctioneers turned to the phone bidders and it soon became clear that the lot was going to sell for a record price."The room went absolutely cold and quiet as everyone listened intensely," said Vanessa Phllips, director of furniture, silver, ceramics, glass and jewellery at Strauss & Co, describing how the phone clerks called out the bids.Once the commode was sold there was a round of applause."The atmosphere was electric. We don't get that very often when we sell furniture. That reaction is normally reserved for paintings," she said.The successful bidder was a foreign collector...