Ceramic mug marking King George VI's coronation sells for £13,500 after spending 20 years gathering dust in a loft

A ceramic mug marking the coronation of King George VI which sat and gathered dust in a loft for over 20 years has been sold for £13,500.

The 87-year-old cup was designed by British artist Eric Ravilious for Wedgwood to commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.

It had sat undisturbed in the vendor's attic since the late 1990s before they had the souvenir mug's value estimated at at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough, Leics.

The auctioneers estimated the mug to be worth a respectable £800 however it smashed that estimate when it went under the hammer and sold for a whopping £13,500 - more than 16 times its guide price - to a private buyer.

Gildings director Will Gilding said: 'We're thrilled to achieve this astonishing result for this very special mug which although highly collectable, is still intrinsically just a mundane household item.

'We were unable to find any other examples of this particular colourway, which also has a slightly differently shaped rim to the other mugs in the sale, so this one may well be unique.

'As a result, we knew it had the potential to soar far beyond its guide price.

'But for the hammer to go down at £13,500 is truly remarkable and just goes to show the magic that can happen when two determined collectors identify a must-have treasure.

The cup's design was adapted from a previous version intended to mark King Edward VIII taking the throne before his abdication, the design features celebratory fireworks and the royal coat of arms.

It is said to be a rare example because of its unique yellow and green detailing

The cup was from a collection of five of Ravilious's 1937 Wedgwood coronation mugs. Three of the mugs are more commonly seen but still sought-after.

Recently the turquoise, blue and pink-based colourways sold for £270, £360 and £2,700 respectively.

Another blue version made for the planned coronation of Edward VIII fetched £480.

Born in 1903, Eric Ravilious was a highly regarded Sussex-based painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver.

He is best known for his modernist watercolour interpretations of English landscapes and World War II scenes, some of which are displayed in the Imperial War Museum in London.

In December 1939 Ravilious became an official World War Two war artist with the rank of Honorary Captain in the Royal Marines.

On September 2, 1942 he joined one of three aircrafts dispatched on a search and rescue mission for a plane that had failed to return to RAF Kaldadarnes in Iceland.

The aircraft he boarded failed to return, and he and the four-man crew were recorded as lost in action four days later, making him the first of three British war artists to die in active service during World War Two.

Mr Gilding said: 'This vanishingly rare example of a striking design by a renowned artist who suffered a tragic wartime death was sold in very good condition given it's age and ceramic nature.

'Such is the power of its scarcity, and the demand for works by Ravilious, this high quality but relatively inexpensive souvenir has taken on a previously unimagined value several decades later.

'When I brought the gavel down, I think everyone in the room felt like we needed a cup of tea to calm us all down - not least the buyer - but in a slightly more affordable mug.'