A public appeal has been launched to raise £2.74 million to save the historic Wedgwood Collection from sale.

The collection is being sold off for £15 million to pay off the firm’s pension debts.

The Art Fund already have about £13 million from the Heritage Lottery fund and other donations to buy it but need to raise the rest by 30th November to prevent the collection from being broken up.

The Art Fund said that they planned to lease the collection to the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London, if it’s bid was successful.

V&A would then loan it back to WWRD, the firm that owns Wedgwood, for display at the Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston.

Members of the Wedgwood family have said that it would be a “relief” to have the collection kept together in Staffordshire.

Pottery experts and community leaders such as Bill Cash and Tristram Hunt are also backing the appeal.