An Interesting Find
For just a quid, a man bought a nice looking vase from a charity shop in Hertfordshire. He walked in, browsing the items inside, and a small yellow vase drew his attention.
However, little did this Englishman imagine that it would be beginning of quite an adventure!
A Lucky Buyer
The lucky buyer decided this vase would bring him a profit if he sold it on eBay. After all, it looked quite unique!
On top of that, the Chinese letters on it along with the beautiful paintings were definitely making this vase worth more than just a quid.
Flooded With Offers
After posting the Chinese for sale on eBay, the man was flooded with thousands of offers, which made him think how much would this vase be worth.
He decided to take the vase to get appraised, and that's how the man learned the truth about this little treasure.
Experts Were Stunned
It took the man nearly an hour to drive to the Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers in Essex, where Asian art expert Yexue Li looked at it.
Yexue was speechless, she said in an interview with Daily Mail: “It is very exciting, and we’ve had a lot of interest already.” Why is this vase so special?
Secrets Hidden In Plain Sight
What the lucky buyer didn’t know was that this Chinese vase wasn’t just a simple item. An Asian art expert explained that the paint was, indeed, very special.
“The enamel on the vase is special because it uses yangcai (foreign) enamels on a yellow ground”, the expert said. And then, they explain why the color and inscriptions made the vase so expensive.
Be Undivided
The vase contains a phrase that translates to “praise incense,” and it also contains the words “Weijing weiyi,” which means “be precise, be undivided.”
One question remains unanswered: what was the origin of this vase? Thankfully, the man would soon find out!
A Decoration Fit For An Emperor
According to experts, the small yellow vase is a wall decoration that was specially made for none other than the Qianlong Emperor who reigned in China from 1735 to 1796!
“He was shocked and very excited when we explained its importance,” said Yexue Li. Then, they told him how much it was worth…
A Very Special Vase
What makes this vase so special is that the Emperor himself has commissioned the vase because it comes with his own inscription – the ones painted with red.
“It would have been of a high value when it was made,” added Yexue Li.
18th Century Treasure
Who knew one could stumble upon a lost Chinese piece of treasure from the 18th century in a charity shop from the UK?
The vase is only eight-inch tall, but it is very expensive! Can you guess for how much it was appraised?
Tens Of Thousands Of Pounds!
The high value of the nearly 300 years old vase could only increase in time. If experts said it was valuable when it was made, can you even believe for how much it could be sold now?
The decorative vase hasn't been yet sold, but it has a starting price for the auction that will start in November.
Investing In Chinese Art
Before we tell you the starting price for this vase at the auction in November, we must talk about another similar Chinese vase that was sold last year for $19 Million!
Could this one be as expensive as the one that made a lucky woman a millionaire? Here's why we think it could be worth not just thousands of pounds, but more!
The Vase In The Attic
Last year, a woman discovered a cardboard shoebox in the dusty attic. It was part of her family inheritance – she’ll soon realize how rich she’d become after taking that “shoebox” for appraisal.
Immediately after, she opened the box and saw a vase that appeared to be valuable.
Bringing The Dusty Shoebox To Sotheby's
The woman took that shoebox on the Metro and headed to Sotheby’s. Little did she know she was in for a big surprise.
She placed it on the desk of a Chinese art expert who didn’t know what to expect when he opened it…
A Major Work Of Art!
In an interview with reporters, Olivier Valmier, who is the Asian arts expert at the auction house, said the following.
"“This is a major work of art, it is as if we had just discovered a Caravaggio". Loud and clear!
It's In Perfect Condition
Valmier said the vase was in perfect condition and that it was the only known example in the world bearing such detail.
Given it's such a treasured object, one can't help but wonder: How old is this vase?
The Vase Nobody Liked Is Worth A Fortune!
“We didn’t like the vase too much, and my grandparents didn’t like it either,” said the woman who contacted Sotheby’s this March.
As soon as she found out how much it was worth, she decided to put it up for auction. But here’s where the things get more interesting for both vases!
A Shocking Sale
What made the woman speechless was that her Chinese porcelain vase was placed at a price of $590,000 – $825,000.
However, art investors fought over it, and the lucky buyer originating from Asia bought it for an eye-watering sum of $19 million!
The Imperial Vase
Now back to our vase, although it is currently valued at £80,000, it could go up at auction for much more.
This was just like the one found in the attic, which got bought for 20 times the reserve price. What could this mean for the £1 vase?
It Could Be Worth More Than 1.6 Million Pounds!
If another buyer is willing to fight others to get the yellow vase, and he’s prepared to pay 20 times the starting price of £80,000, it could reach a selling price of 1.6 million pounds!
That’s just a theory for now, but we’ll soon find out at the beginning of November.
The Lucky Buyer
We can all agree that this man was lucky to buy the vase for just £1, and even if he gets only £80,000, it’s still a huge profit!
To think of the charity shop worker who instead of buying the vase for themselves, they bagged it up and got that £1 for it…