Shropshire auctioneers wield gavel at sale of tycoon's eccentric collection

Jeremy Lamond, of Shrewsbury-based Halls' Fine Art, said disposing of the massive estate was the biggest task he had taken on in Britain.

Mr Dennis, who first hit the headlines some 40 years ago during the Oz publishing trial, had 12 homes, in London, the Cotswolds, New York, Connecticut and Mauritius by the time of his death last year.

Now the contents of those homes – including pinball machines, stuffed owls, fighter jet ejector seats, a kangaroo, a Rolls Royce and antique barber chairs – have been piled into a 20,000 square foot marquee at Mr Dennis's estate in the village of Dorsington, near Stratford-upon-Avon, for a three-day auction.

Mr Lamond said: "We held an auction in Beijing which was huge, but this is the biggest that we have had in the UK."

The sale will end on Thursday with Mr Dennis's nautical collection.

Mr Lamond said his firm was chosen because it was known to the executors of the Dennis estate.

And although he never met Mr Dennis, Mr Lamond said the publisher's personality shone through in his collection.

"It's a hugely exciting and eclectic sale with literally something for everyone," he said.

"There is a delightful mix of antique and modern with 17th and 18th century oak and walnut furniture alongside contemporary designer furniture and objects. He was obviously a larger-than-life character who obviously loved collecting and loved life."

Felix Dennis published Viz and Maxim as well as IT and motoring titles.

He was jailed in 1971 alongside two fellow publishers of the cult Oz magazine.

They were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act for The Schoolkids Issue, edited by teenagers.

Dennis, who left school at 15, got a shorter sentence because the judge said he was clearly less intelligent – a slight that stung Dennis for the rest of his life.

Mr Dennis died in June last year after a two-year battle with throat cancer.