WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) – A copper weathervane that sat atop the Woonsocket train depot for nearly a century was sold at a New Hampshire auction for $1.2 million.

It is believed to be a record price for an American weathervane. The sculpture, done in the shape of a locomotive, is five feet long and 17 inches high and topped the train depot from 1882 to 1971.

An unidentified bidder paid $1.2 million for the weathervane at an auction last week in Manchester, N.H.

“We knew the demand would be pushed to the ceiling,” said James Horan, office manager for Northeast Auctions, a company based in Portsmouth, N.H., that ran the auction. “We thought $500,000 to $700,000. You just don’t find this kind of thing.”

The weathervane was removed from the building in 1971 after the depot was sold.

It passed through different dealers and collectors, until it ended up in the collection of Raymond Egan, a former executive at Bristol Myers-Squibb, according to a report in The Providence Journal on Saturday.

The Egan collection went up for auction last week.