Vase Bought At Charity Shop For £1 Belonged To Chinese Emperor

A vase that was bought for £1 at a charity shop could end up being worth more than 80,000 times what was paid for it after it turned out that it was made specially for a Chinese emperor.

Sure, there are always bargains to be had in a charity shop, but that would take the biscuit.

When the person who originally bought the vase at the charity shop listed it online he was inundated with messages and bids from interested parties.

So, off he went to get it professionally appraised and valued.

The boffins down at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers' in Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex found out pretty quickly that the vase had been made in the 18^th century - between 1735 and 1796 to be more precise - for the Qianlong Emperor.

They know this because of a symbol that the pot bears on it that shows the vase was destined for one of the emperor's palaces.

It also bears two marks on the side which read "Qianlong chen han' which means 'the Qianlong emperor's own mark'.

That's easy enough to spot if you know what you're looking for.

Furthermore, the eight inch tall vase is coloured yellow, which is another calling card of royal provenance.

Yexue Li, who is the head of the Asian art department for Sworders, said that - as you might well imagine - the buyer, who remains anonymous, was shocked and excited when he found out what the vase really was and what it was worth.

She said: "The gentleman vendor was in the charity shop and picked out the vase because he liked the look of it.

"He was unaware of his significance so he put it on eBay with a very low starting price to begin with and there was a lot of interest.

"He decided to take the vase off eBay and bought it in to us to take a look. He was shocked and very excited when we explained its importance."

Well, you would be.

Li continued: "The vase is special because it comes with the inscription by the Qianlong Emperor, and he must have commissioned this vase.

"It's a high quality vase because it was court commissioned, so it would have been of a high value when it was made. It is very exciting, and we've had a lot of interest already."

If you're interested, the vase is due to go under the hammer on November 8^th.

Featured Image Credit: Sworders/BNPS

Topics: UK News, Interesting, Weird

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

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