After reading this you might feel a sudden urge to rush to the attic and start looking for old objects left to you by your grandparents. The truth is you can never know what value lies within a most simple object like a vase or an ashtray. Here is the perfect illustration of our point:
The family who inherited this apparently ordinary vase had no idea that they could sell it for no less than £53.1 million! When the auction was scheduled, the vase was expected to fetch between £800,000 and £1.2 million, so you can imagine the surprise on the owners’ faces as the bids grew higher and higher! They even had to leave the room for a while to get some fresh air.
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the auction was not held by big houses like Christie’s or Sotheby’s, but by a small provincial one, called Bainbridge`s, whose biggest sell until now brought them only £100.000.
The 16 inch tall piece, decorated with fish, belongs to the 18th century, from around 1740. The Qianlong porcelain vase brought to Bainbridge`s auction house a premium of £8.6 million.
