Ching- Qing! Vase sells for €740,000

ONE unsuspecting seller struck it lucky yesterday after a Chinese vase with a guide price of around €1,200 went under the hammer for a record-breaking €740,000.

The 18thcentury blueand-white Qing Period gourd, which is 23cm tall, was sold at Shepphard’s in Durrow, Co. Laois, having been put up for auction by a Dublin man. Eleven phone bidders were involved in the price war which escalated, eventually being won by a punter in Paris.