A BATTERED up teapot has sold at auction for a whopping £19,000 - five times more than its asking price.

The silverware by radical designer Christopher Dresser had been sitting on a local family’s sideboard for years before they decided it should go under the hammer.
 

Auctioneers at Reeman Dansie at Severalls Business Park, Colchester, were left stunned when the dented object attracted a global frenzy of bidders.
 

The teapot was one of six protoypes that never made it into production after it was made in 1879 as the Victorians probably considered it to be too ugly for their more refined tastes.

However it was the teapot’s rare design that saw bidders from all over the world come flocking more than 130 years later.
 

Each of the teapot’s feet bend inwards and a dent in its spout means the lid won’t close properly.
 

Due to the market and the teapot’s poor condition, the guide price had been between £2,000 and £5,000.