An auction has fetched almost £300,000 selling peculiar items including a five-foot long sperm whale penis and a giant polar bear.

The Out of The Ordinary auction was held at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex on Tuesday and sold extraordinary items from around the world.

The “unusual, whacky and downright strange mix” of objects collectively raised £284,440.

The auction, curated by Mark Wilkinson, managed to sell a 19th century horsehair stuffed sperm whale penis for £4,600 to an anonymous buyer.

Another private buyer spent £13,000 on a complete cave bear skeleton – the Ice Age mammal that died out about 27,000 years ago.

The unnamed bidder also spent a further £20,000 on its 20th century cousin – an 8ft polar bear.

According to a spokesperson from Sworders, taxidermy – preserving of an animal's body by stuffing for the purpose of display or study – “has undergone a collecting renaissance in the past decade".

He said: ”Taxidermy eccentricities are a particularly buoyant niche. It appeals to both collectors and to interior designers looking to make bold interior statements."

The auction also featured Michael Jackson's stage costume including a jumpsuit, helmet, gloves and trainers worn during the 1992-93 “Dangerous” tour, which sold to a buyer from Japan for £16,000.

Bluefin tuna sells for record £2.5 million at Tokyo auction

A Sworders spokesperson added: “During his performance, the prince of pop had appeared on stage in this costume with a jetpack attached to his back before proceeding to fly out of the arena.”

Other items including - an aluminium lounge chair, two squirrels in a display preparing food, a series of five photographs taken by fashion photographer David Bailey, two wing tips from a Cathay Pacific 747 aeroplane, and French postcards were also sold.