Couple sell Chinese vases for £500,000

Lesley Richardson
Saturday 31 July 2010 00:00 BST
Comments

A pair of vases left on a bedroom shelf have transformed a couple's retirement after selling for almost £500,000 at auction in Dorchester.

The Qianlong dynasty porcelain pieces were a wedding present from the vendor's father in 1965. An antiques expert spotted the 10in-high vases on a bedroom shelf when he was invited to value other items at their home. They smashed the pre-sale estimate of between £40,000 and £60,000 when a foreign bidder paid £482,000.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in