More than 160 Teasmades put up for auction by collector

An "entire room" of Teasmades is being sold by a collector in Wiltshire, who is downsizing to a smaller house.

Sheridan Parsons from Royal Wootton Bassett, built up her hoard of 172 Teasmades over 15 years.

She said: "I got another one and another one and it grew and the whole thing got a bit out of hand really."

The collection of bedside automatic tea-makers is due to be auctioned on eBay, with a third of the money raised donated to Royal Voluntary Service.

Ms Sheridan said she bought her first Teasmade in 2000 and "very quickly" became interested in their history and "how many models there were".

"At that point I thought there might have been about 20 or 30 models," she said.

"Then I was - I think - the only collector in the world."

Since then, she has amassed what she believes is the "biggest Teasmade collection in the world".

But with plans to downsize from a 10 bedroom house to a two-and-a-half bedroom property, the "entire room" of bedroom gadgets has to go but she will retain a few.

"172 is a bit too many really so I'm going to take away six of my favourites," she said.

"The Absolon which is from 1932 is a very unusual one - mine as far as I know is the only one.

"And the other one I've got, which is very old, is the 1936 Goblin - which is a first production model that was found under a house in Australia."

Due to be listed this week, Ms Parsons said it was "really hard to say" how much they will sell for as there were "so few collectors out there".

"A lot of them still work, but the working of them isn't the most important thing for me," she said.

"But I'm hoping they will raise lots of money."