A SPECIALIST auctioneer in the region has joined forces with Sotheby's to give collectors more opportunity to buy and sell toys.

Vectis, of Teesside, and Sotheby's, in London, will share their experience to create a service for collectors.

From May, the companies will be working together to catalogue and market toys and dolls sent for sale by their clients.

The toys will be sold at 18 auctions a year at Vectis' auction rooms in Buckingham or Rugby, or on the Internet.

Bryan Gondola, owner of Vectis Auction Group, at Thornaby, said: "Vectis auctions are dedicated to selling all types of collectable toys, drawing on the knowledge of a vastly experienced toy cataloguing team covering every aspect of toy collecting.

"With a professional back-up team, Vectis auctions offer a comprehensive service to toy buyers and sellers world-wide."

Vectis, set up in 1988, is one of the largest toy auctioneers in the world, and sells up to £3,500,000 worth of toys every year.

Kerry Taylor, of Sotheby's, said: "With the growth of highly specialist niche markets in the toy, doll and new collectable fields, we feel we need to offer a greater breadth of expertise and numbers of sales in these ever-growing markets."

Between them, the ten experts at the two companies have 220 years of experience.