A rare, Royal Worcester porcelain wine funnel made £10,000 ($15,259) at UK auction house Tamlyns on July 2.

Previous to the sale, the vendor, who hails from Bridgwater, Somerset, had no idea as to the item's value.  

The impressive sale price contests to the scarcity of equivalent Royal Worcester wine funnels

A spokesperson for Tamlyns told local newspaper the Bridgwater Mercury: "It was always understood in her family that it was Worcester but they had never had a definite attribution.

"Amazingly given its age, and the fact that it had been used, the funnel was in almost perfect condition."

A single telephone bidder and a buyer present at the sale battled against one another, driving the item's price ever higher.

The anonymous telephone bidder eventually won the rare item.

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