Saturday 31 July 2010

Another One Of Those 'Happy' Stories I Love So Much,

a couple were given a pair of vases at their wedding in 1965, they never thought of the Qianlong dynasty porcelain pieces as any more than a family heirloom after being given them at their wedding as a present from the groom’s father, who inherited them from his father before him, through the years, they lay on a bedroom shelf at the couple’s modest home near Southampton, then antiques expert Guy Schwinge from Duke’s fine art auctioneers in Dor­chester called to make a routine inspection, joy of joys, he valued them at up to £60,000, so off to auction the two 10 inch Qianlong dynasty vases went, but joy soon turned to ecstasy, in a hushed saleroom they sold for a total of almost £500,000 to a foreign bidder on the telephone, there were 10 phone lines and various bidders in the room at the auction house in Dorchester, the anonymous owners, after hearing of the price, said: “We are absolutely delighted and are definitely going on holiday, this has transformed our retirement,” you bet it has, just imagine if it was your pair of vases and you were in the auction room watching the bidding - bring me the smelling salts!

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