Chinese plate gathering dust on shelf actually 14th century lacquer charger and sells for £210,000
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A Chinese plate that was gathering dust on a shelf and thought to be only worth £3,000 turns out to be a 14th century lacquer charger and sells for £210,000
- The anonymous British owner inherited the charger which is 12 inches in diameter.
- He took it to a provincial auction house ‘on a whim’ where it was valued at £3,000
- Actually made by a master craftsman during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century.
- The winning bidder paid £210,540 for the rare piece at Kinghams Auctioneers.
A British antiques collector is celebrating after an old Chinese plate that was gathering dust on his shelf and thought to be worth £3,000 sold for more than £210,000.
The anonymous owner inherited the circular lacquer charger, which measured 12 inches in diameter, and thought it was Chinese or Japanese, but had no idea of its value.
It was brought to a provincial auction house ‘on a whim’ where experts thought it dated back to the Ming dynasty of imperial China.
The shipper received a pre-sale estimate of £3,000, but Kinghams Auctioneers of Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was soon inundated with inquiries from bidders in Asia.
A British antiques collector is celebrating after an ancient Chinese plate, pictured, said to be worth £3,000, sold for more than £210,000 at auction.
It turned out that the dark red charger was made by a master craftsman during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century. Lacquer carving was a highly skilled and time consuming trade.
Using a wooden base, the lacquer was built up in many layers of resin and tree sap to form an extremely strong natural “plastic” which was then carved.
Skillful carving was at its peak during the Yuan Dynasty.
The owner inherited the circular lacquer charger, which measured 12 inches in diameter, and thought it was Chinese or Japanese, but had no idea of its value. The deep red charger was made by a master craftsman during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century.
The charger that was sold at Kinghams is comparable to similar examples in prominent museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The frenzied bidding battle resulted in the item being sold for a hammer price of £165,000. With fees added, the winning bidder paid £210,540 for it.
Adrian Rathbone, associate director at Kinghams, said: ‘The seller brought it to us on a whim.
“They had inherited it about 20 or 30 years ago and it had just been sitting on a shelf collecting dust.
The charger is comparable to similar examples in prominent museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The winning bidder paid £210,540 for it.
“I guess they were just looking at it one day and wondering how much it might be worth.”
Mr Rathbone added: “We carried out an investigation into it and concluded that it was something special and we thought it was from the Ming period, but it turned out to be even older than that.”
‘The bidding has just taken off. The seller is over the moon and it is a very good result. It is a good sum and an early Christmas present for them.
The sale represented a record for a single lot sold by Kinghams, surpassing the previous best of £140,000 for a piece of lalique.
Other items that sold for more than the owner expected
A Chinese vase damaged from being used as a walking stick on an outdoor porch for over 40 years sold for £110,000 in 2018.
The elderly owner, from Altrincham in Greater Manchester, inherited the vase decades ago and was originally valued by experts at £200.
It turned out to have been made for a Chinese emperor in the early 19th century to display in one of his imperial palaces.
A damaged Chinese vase expertly valued at £200 sold for £110,000 in 2018
Another Chinese vase valued at £10,000 to £15,000 sold at auction for almost £1 million in 2013.
The extremely rare blue and white bottle vase was made for the Qianlong Emperor in 1730. The seller’s family brought it to Britain over a century ago.
It went to an anonymous bidder from China at Tennants auction rooms in Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
Another Chinese vase valued between £10,000 and £15,000 sold at auction for almost £1 million in 2013.
A nearly 300-year-old Chinese tea bowl bought for £20 by a Brit sold for £40,000 at auction in 2019.
Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers had given him a sale estimate of £8,000.
The bowl was purchased by a Hong Kong collector for £31,000 as part of the Sworders Asian Art auction, with additional fees bringing the figure paid to £40,000.
A nearly 300-year-old Chinese tea bowl that was bought for £20 sold for £40,000 at auction in 2019