I saw this article in the UK Express. Doesn't it make you want to search through your clutter for hidden treasure?
VASE FOUND IN HOUSE CLUTTER SELLS FOR £51M
"AN 18th century Chinese vase found buried in a pile of clutter at a house clearance stunned the antiques world last night after fetching a record £51.6million at auction.
The 16-inch tall Qianlong dynasty porcelain ornament smashed all expectations, selling to a Chinese buyer for more than 50 times its original estimate.
A middle-aged brother and sister, who wish to remain anonymous, stumbled upon the elaborately decorated piece as they cleared out their former family home in the north-west London suburb of Pinner following the death of their parents.
It was taken to Bainbridge’s auction house in Ruislip, Middlesex, where it was estimated to fetch between £800,000 and £1.2 million. However, yesterday it smashed the record for any piece of Chinese artwork sold at auction, going under the hammer for £43million, with auctioneers’ fees taking the price to £51.6million.
It is not known how the vase found its way to the London suburbs, but since the news of the find broke the small auction house has been inundated with queries from all over the world.
Helen Porter, of Bainbridge’s, said: “We are absolutely stunned. This must be one of the most important Chinese vases to be offered for sale this century. Our previous highest sale was £100,000 for a Ming enamel piece a couple of years ago.
'It came from an ordinary house clearance. We’re just a very typical local auction house so, as you can imagine, it was something of a surprise.'
Experts believe the vase, in near enough perfect condition, was fired in the imperial kilns in the 1740s and would have been part of a collection that was kept in the Chinese royal palace."
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