Tower of London poppies offered for resale for up to £350 each

Ceramic poppies which were part of an art installation at the Tower of London last year are being resold through a trading website for up to £350 each.

The poppies went on sale for £25 each in aid of charity after the installation was dismantled and are now being advertised on Gumtree for hundreds of pounds.

The artist who created them, Paul Cummins, said he was "disappointed".

Gumtree said it would "not interfere" with adverts unless they broke the law.

When the poppies became available to buy last year, all net proceeds, plus 10% of every sale, was shared between six service charities, including Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion.

At least three sellers on Gumtree were advertising the poppies for resale with prices starting at £175 when the site was accessed on Saturday.

Gumtree said it did not condone "profiteering"

One seller claimed to have four of the poppies for which they were asking £350 each.

There were also posts on Gumtree from potential buyers, one of whom said they would be willing to pay up to £250.

A spokeswoman for the website said: "We do not condone profiteering from the sale of charitable items in any way."

But she added: "We do not interfere with individual trading, unless the advert is suspected as illegal or could potentially put customers' safety at risk."

'Upsetting'

Mr Cummins, the Derbyshire-based artist who designed them, described the news as "disappointing".

The installation attracted more than five million visitors in 2014

He told BBC London: "Where poppies are being sold on for personal profit, sometimes in high values, it really kicks dirt in the face of what the installation meant to everyone involved in the project, as well as those who visited in 2014, so it's upsetting to hear."

The BBC has approached the charities the poppies were intended to help. One of them, the Armed Forces charity SSAFA, would not comment on whether people choose to resell their poppies.

The installation, entitled Blood-Swept Lands and Seas of Red, attracted more than five million visitors at the Tower of London last year.

Each of the 888,246 hand-made poppies represented the death of a British and Commonwealth soldier during World War One.

The auction site eBay took action last year against people trying to sell the artefacts by removing listings after they were posted.