Collections of ceramics are rarely as dazzling and diverse as that of a retired bookmaker from Newcastle in NSW. The collection goes under the hammer on Tuesday at Leonard Joel in Sydney’s Woollahra.

The 439 lots on offer range from Royal Doulton flambé vessels and figures, with their unctuous iridescent red glazes, to the Doulton Lambeth mouse figures sculpted by George Tinworth. There are even rare and finely decorated 18th and 19th century scent bottles in Wedgwood’s trademark jasperware – launched in the 1770s and still made today – where the design stands out in white from the traditional “biscuit” blue or brown body.