Four hundred items of pottery could be auctioned

Mr Snow said: "We don't have much time to raise this money if we are going to stop the items being sold by Bonhams.

"I estimate we've got about eight weeks but the �1m is for the 400 items being put up for sale.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of other items of Minton ware in the firm's archive and it would be great to keep them in the city."

Mr Snow is hopeful that the Victoria & Albert Museum may step in to help raise the extra funds to keep the Minton in the UK.

He said: "If we can save these items, then a decision can be made about where to display them."

It was hoped that 40 of the city's most prominent business leaders would donate �25,000 to raise the �1m, but now the Appeal for the Retention of Minton Treasured Ware In Stoke on Trent (Armtwist) intends to ask for public help.

The company said it did not have the facilities to display all the items, but has now agreed to allow time for the �1m to be raised.

The auction, entitled Masterpieces of Minton, is scheduled to take place on 30 April.