200-year-old wine funnel looks to be a real rare vintage!

OBJECT FROM BEFORE VICTORIAN ERA SET TO FETCH UP TO £300 AT FINE ART AUCTION

- By TELEGRAPH REPORTER

RECENTLY discovered tucked away at the back of a cupboard, a curious silver object has been identified as a 217-year-old wine funnel.

The funnel was a once common household item with both practical use and historic charm.

"Silver wine funnels emerged at the end of the 17th century, during the reign of Charles II," explained auctioneer Charles Hanson.

"They were designed to decant wine at the table, a necessity at the time due to the prevalence of sediment in bottled wine."

While the earliest examples were quite plain, by the mid-18th century, wine funnels had evolved into two-part pieces.