Chinese vase left in dogs' room fetches record £3m at auction

[emad]

By Will Bennett
(Filed: 16/07/2005)

A unique Chinese vase left on a shelf in a room where the owners' dogs slept became the most expensive work of art ever sold by a British provincial auctioneer when it fetched £3 million yesterday.

The Alexander Vase, which had been bought by an ancestor of the owners for £10 in 1900, was discovered during a routine insurance valuation by a specialist from Woolley & Wallis, based in Salisbury.


The porcelain vase is from the Yuan dynasty - around 1350
The anonymous vendors, who live in Wiltshire, were surprised when John Axford told them that the blue and white vase might be very valuable. It was then found to be the only surviving unbroken Yuan dynasty vase of its type.

Yesterday eight telephone bidders competed for the 650-year-old vase, which had been cautiously estimated at £250,000. Four of them were still trying to buy it as the bidding reached £1.5 million and the new owner, who asked to remain anonymous, finally paid £2.6 million. By the time auctioneers added their commission the price was more than £3 million, six times the previous record for a work of art in a British provincial saleroom.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/16/nvase16.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/16/ixhome.html

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Damn! that's like Antiques Roadshow to the 10th power!

:wow:

[AntiCoup2K4]

2. I'm guessing they kept the vase on a high shelf?

If it had been on a typical coffee table or end table in a room with dogs in it, chances are it would have met "death by tail" long ago.