Terracota?? Lion bought off gypsy's at car boot..

My dad came home with this 8" long lion from our local carboot on sunday he found it in a bucket of odds and ends on the back of a gypsy scrap wagon they go every sunday and hes had the odd nice thing from them over the years. This was £2 everything they sell is cheap but this seemed a good buy as some of the other dealers were trying to buy it later on but although he doesnt know pottery he resisted selling it, Appears to have age and feels like terracotta or earthenware unsure any ideas ??

I'd have guessed it has a fair bit of age to it. May be worth having valued at a fine arts auction. Not my kind of thing, so I may be wrong.

looks like it's been prized off a base of some kind, perhaps a tile.

I would guess it's old, from a very good maker and worth a tidy sum

Ive decided i think its earthenware seems to have very dark frits all over the buff slip body, Seems to have been made in a very nieve? like its been popped out of a mould quickly very excited with it. Thanks for the thoughts

I think it's been prized off a base of some sort or maybe rescued if the base got broken. He is incredibly well modelled and has a beautiful face and the glaze is gorgeous. I'm not surprised someone else wanted to buy him.
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Anybody fancy having a stab at its age??

I agree with all that has been said about your dad's lion and would guess at it being mid to late 19th century but I'm no expert.