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Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
71,542
71,465

He kept it rather precariously on top of a bookcase in the living room – an elegant Chinese vase with a fish motif on the front and gold banding that glistened occasionally in the sunlight.

One nudge could have sent it crashing to the ground at any time over the last several decades. But it wouldn’t have been a disaster. The ornate porcelain ornament would have been worth an impressive £800 on the insurance.

That, at least, was the theory – and it might have stayed that way had the vase not caught the eye of an expert after a modest semi in Pinner, north-west London, was cleared in the wake of the owner’s death.



Masterpiece: After casually sitting in a Middlesex home for decades, this 18th century Chinese vase sold for a record £53.1million this week

What the art world now knows is that the 16-inch tall vase is the most expensive piece of Chinese porcelain ever to come on to the market – creating a whirlwind of excitement after it was sold at auction on Thursday for £53.1million.

It was described variously as ‘a masterpiece’, ‘exquisite’ and a world record discovery that became ‘the antiques story of the 21st century’.

So yesterday the riddle of how it journeyed from an 18th century royal palace in Beijing to a lounge in the suburbs became a Chinese puzzle that had historians and art experts across the globe scratching their heads in disbelief.

Today the Daily Mail can reveal that the vase belonged to an elderly man who inherited it from his uncle, an explorer who travelled frequently to the Far East. When the man died this year it was left as part of his estate to his sister, in her seventies, and her married son, in his forties.

At a chaotic, crowded sale on Thursday night, they watched in disbelief as frantic bidding changed their fortunes in a matter of minutes. Bidding suddenly rocketed from £500,000 to tens of millions...
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
He kept it rather precariously on top of a bookcase in the living room – an elegant Chinese vase with a fish motif on the front and gold banding that glistened occasionally in the sunlight.

One nudge could have sent it crashing to the ground at any time over the last several decades. But it wouldn’t have been a disaster. The ornate porcelain ornament would have been worth an impressive £800 on the insurance.

That, at least, was the theory – and it might have stayed that way had the vase not caught the eye of an expert after a modest semi in Pinner, north-west London, was cleared in the wake of the owner’s death.



Masterpiece: After casually sitting in a Middlesex home for decades, this 18th century Chinese vase sold for a record £53.1million this week

What the art world now knows is that the 16-inch tall vase is the most expensive piece of Chinese porcelain ever to come on to the market – creating a whirlwind of excitement after it was sold at auction on Thursday for £53.1million.

It was described variously as ‘a masterpiece’, ‘exquisite’ and a world record discovery that became ‘the antiques story of the 21st century’.

So yesterday the riddle of how it journeyed from an 18th century royal palace in Beijing to a lounge in the suburbs became a Chinese puzzle that had historians and art experts across the globe scratching their heads in disbelief.

Today the Daily Mail can reveal that the vase belonged to an elderly man who inherited it from his uncle, an explorer who travelled frequently to the Far East. When the man died this year it was left as part of his estate to his sister, in her seventies, and her married son, in his forties.

At a chaotic, crowded sale on Thursday night, they watched in disbelief as frantic bidding changed their fortunes in a matter of minutes. Bidding suddenly rocketed from £500,000 to tens of millions...
What kind of mongaloid spends 53 million on a vase.