2. The Vase That Was Supposed to Fetch £1 Million
Some finds start with a clearance. A family in suburban northwest London was emptying a modest house, and among the contents was a Chinese vase that looked like it belonged on a mantelpiece, not in a museum.
They took it to a small auction house, Bainbridges in Ruislip, which estimated it at £800,000 to £1.2 million. That would have been a very good day. Then the telephone lines lit up.
The vase was an 18th-century piece made for the Qianlong emperor, and Chinese buyers wanted it badly. Bidding ran to £43 million for the hammer price, about £53 million once fees were added, which made it one of the most valuable Chinese artworks ever sold at auction.
The ending was messy. The winning bidder balked at paying the buyer’s premium, and the deal stalled for two years before the vase was eventually sold privately through Bonhams to another buyer. The terms were never made public.