Teapot collection creates a stir

North East auctioneers Anderson and Garland has sold one of the largest private collections of 1,200 teapots for over £80,000 in its recent sale in Newcastle on Tyne.

Newhall teapot
Newhall porcelain teapot which sold for £806

The Philip Miller Teapot Collection, belonged to architect Philip Miller, who lived in Berwick upon Tweed and was the largest single owner collection of teapots to be sold at auction, with teapots from the mid-18th century up to the modern day.

Mrs Patricia Miller, the wife of the late Philip Miller said, “I am delighted with the sale, every single teapot has been sold, which is a testament to my late husband’s eye for quality. I hope that the new owners will enjoy them as much as Philip did.”

The collection of over 1,200 teapots were brought together since the 1970s and included the work of as many different English factories as possible.

Patricia continued, “I was sorry to have to sell his beloved teapots, but I am moving to a smaller property and simply don’t have room for them anymore. The most ironic thing is that Philip didn’t like tea, he actually never drank a drop.”

Philip Miller was a successful architect who moved to Berwick upon Tweed in early 2001 from Bedfordshire, he wrote two books on teapots, The Anthology of British Teapots and Teapots and Coffee Pots.

Fred Wyrley-Birch, Specialist at Anderson & Garland said, “It is rare to sell one hundred percent of a sale. We had bidders from around the world including the Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan which demonstrated the quality and depth of the collection.”

Clarice Cliff tea setAmongst the more unusual teapots in the vast collection were a teapot by the ceramic artist Clarice Cliff (c 1936) which sold for £198, a teapot dating from 1875, by what is believed to be the oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, Royal Worcester sold for £538. There were a number of examples from the famous Newhall Porcelain of which one sold for £806 and a rare Westpans soft paste teapot (c1765), decorated with flowers, made £1,215.

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