Curious contents of shop for sale in Scunthorpe

An eclectic mix of curios, including a former Royal Navy remote-controlled mine disposal vehicle, will be auctioned in North Lincolnshire later.

Other lots include a wrecking ball prop used in an advert with supermodel Naomi Campbell and a door from HMP Leicester.

The items were used as décor for two vaping shops.

Paul Cooper, from Eddisons, said he was "amazed" at items that turned up at the Scunthorpe auction centre.

According to the auctioneer, the items were used to decorate the premises of a vaping products retailer that had stores in Sutton-in-Ashfield and Mansfield.

Mr Cooper admitted it was the first time his company had been asked to auction a submarine.

"It's a remotely-operated craft, developed by the French company ECA in the early 1970s for mine detection," he said.

"Royal Navy minehunters were equipped with these 'poisson auto-propulses' (self-propelled fish) and they sold off a number of them when their working days were over."

Mr Cooper said the demolition wrecking ball is a prop from a Vauxhall car advert in the early Nineties.

"The carmaker wanted to highlight the fact that its new Corsa had side impact bars," he said. "What better way to get everyone's attention than to have supermodel Naomi Campbell photographed riding a giant iron ball being swung at the little car?"Despite its realistic appearance, the ball is actually made from a composite material rather than iron.

Mr Cooper joked: "It is quite amusing to see one of the auction centre lads casually moving something that you would expect to weigh as much as five tonnes."

A total of 128 lots will go under the hammer in the online auction that ends at 13:00 BST on Wednesday.

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