Vase smashes record to sell for £810,000

STAFF at a Birmingham auction house were left stunned after a Chinese vase with an estimated sale tag of £1,200 broke all records – and sold for a whopping £810,000.

The Chinese porcelain wucai fish vase was expected to sell for a maximum of £1,800 when auctioned off at Fellows Auctioners in Hockley this week.

But its lucky Chinese seller, based in Europe, was left stunned after staff informed them it had sold for the incredible amount to a Chinese buyer after an astonishing bidding war.

A packed auction house broke into rapturous applause when the vase was finally sold on Monday morning.

Senior specialist Mark Huddleston said: “A number of bidders were actually in the saleroom and had viewed it in person.

“One bidder even flew in from Japan, however after initially strong bidding he dropped out well before the half-million mark.

“Two buyers in the room battled each other strongly before, at around the £600,000 mark, the final telephone left standing sparked into life.

“There was a lot of interest through the online bidding platforms as well.

“Finally at £800,000 the final bidder in the room admitted defeat, and with the next bid (£810,000) the telephone bidder, via his translator, secured the lot – to a round of applause for the auctioneer and Managing Director, Stephen Whittaker.”

Mr Huddleston said the sale of the vase showed the buying power of international clients and how important the internet was in promoting to buyers outside of the UK.

He added: “We are delighted with the house-record sale of the Chinese wucai vase.

“This vase was consigned via a Chinese client. Initial research when cataloguing had pointed to a number of historic precedents sold in the tens and hundreds of thousands. We examined the decoration to the collar and felt that it lacked sophistication of these early pieces.

“Whilst we dealt with a number of condition enquiries before the sale, little could have prepared us for the result.

“Bidding began at £1,000 and, with a handful of telephone bidders plus the usual hundreds online, predicting the final price became impossible.

“The most gratifying aspect is that a number of bidders were actually in the saleroom and had viewed it in person.”