A collection of works by one of Stoke-on-Trent's best-known potters is expected to fetch �20,000 when it goes up for auction on Thursday.

The 15-piece coffee set is designed by Clarice Cliff and belongs to an unnamed dancer from South Africa.

He began buying the pieces in junk shops when he was with the Royal Ballet in the 1960s because the strong colours reminded him of his homeland.

About 135 other Cliff pots will also be on offer at Bonhams auctioneers along with the coffee set, and the entire collection is expected to sell for more than �100,000

'Innovative designs'

Joy McCann, from Bonhams in London, said: "I think its such a stylised design that it still appears modern now."

Clarice Cliff began work in 1912 at the age of 13 as an apprentice and joined A J Wilkinson's Royal Staffordshire Pottery four years later.

Her drawing ability was soon noticed and she began designing her own pottery in the 1920s.

Katie Ware, from the Potteries Antique Centre, said: "She was really the first designer of her kind to start doing more innovative designs.

"Anything of that time in that kind of design is very popular now.

"A few years ago you would find pieces around local antique fairs but nowadays it is really much more difficult to go round and pick up pieces. "