Chinese vase found in shoebox sells for £14.2m

An 18th-century Chinese vase found in a shoebox in an attic in France sold for €16.2million (£14.2million) at auction in Paris yesterday.

The price was more than 20 times the estimate of €500,000 to €700,000 the auctioneers had put on the item. It was the highest price reached for a single item sold by Sotheby’s in France.

The vase spent some of its life stashed in an attic with other items that formed part of an inheritance. A French family retrieved the vase and brought it to the auctioneer.