The former owner of a museum of Victorian curiosities is suing the auction house that sold it for turning down a £1 million offer from the artist Damien Hirst.

The collection of more than 6,000 stuffed animals fetched £336,000 when it was sold at auction in 2003.

Now John Watts, who had owned Mr Potter’s Museum of Curiosities for nearly 20 years, is to bring a claim in the High Court against Bonhams for allegedly failing to alert him to an offer from Hirst. He is demanding that Bonhams make up the £572,000 difference between the sale price and the offer from Hirst, who said that he wanted the collection to stay in this country.

The collection was created by Walter Potter, a self-taught taxidermist, and appealed to Victorian sentimentality with its scenes featuring squirrels taking tea and baby rabbits learning the alphabet. For decades it was on display in Sussex but as tastes changed it came to be regarded as macabre and was sold to Mr Watt, who moved it to Jamaica Inn, in Bolventor, Cornwall.

The collection was sold in hundreds of lots, some of which fetched many times their guide price.

Mr Watts said that he had desperately hoped to keep the collection together and was completely unaware of the offer from Hirst. He said: “It was stated in the contract that Bonhams would consider every serious offer from potential clients to acquire the whole collection and keep us informed of such interest. This did not happen.”

An article by Hirst that appeared on the day of the sale claimed that his offer had been turned down because it was made after the deadline had expired. Mr Watts said: “It should have been obvious to Bonhams that this was a serious inquiry. We are bitterly disappointed with the approach and attitude adopted by Bonhams.

“We have tried to discuss this amicably but with no joy. They leave us with no option but to pursue our complaint in the courts.”

In his article, Hirst said that he wanted to “reopen Mr Potter’s, adding my own pieces, perhaps, and even some artwork”, and described how his children were overcome by “a sense of wonderment” when they saw the animals.

He wrote: “I have always wanted a museum like this. But now the collection will go to auction to be sold in separate pieces. I have offered £1 million and to pay for the costs of the auctioneers’ catalogues, just for them to take it off the market and keep the collection intact but apparently the auction has to go ahead. It is a tragedy.”

The Kitten’s Wedding, a tableau of 20 kittens dressed in Victorian wedding costumes, fetched £18,000 at the auction. Another tableau, named The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, sold for £23,500 against a guide price of £5,000-£7,000.

Julian Roup, of Bonhams, said: “Any issues outstanding in relation to the sale are best considered by appropriate courts.”

Sara Macdonald, the spokesman for Hirst, said that, because it was a legal matter, no one could comment. A watercolour masterpiece by the artist J.M.W.Turner that was “lost” for more than a century was sold for £2.9 million last night, comfortably exceeding its estimate of between £1.5 million and £2 million. The piece, entitled Bamborough Castle, was bought by a private collector from the US at a Sotheby’s sale in London.

Turner’s painting had not been seen in public since 1889. It was acquired by the American Vanderbilt family – one of the wealthiest in the world – and was passed down through successive generations, but was not heard of again until recently.

Henry Wemyss, of Sotheby’s, said: “This watercolour fully demonstrates the genius of Turner.”

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