http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ells-for-1-6m-

from a report in the Daily Express

A SMALL bowl bought for just £65 has stunned the art world by selling for more than £1.6million.





The 10in bowl blue and white bowl was identified as rare Ming dynasty porcelain from the 15th century.

It was originally purchased by collectors Otto and Gertrude Harriman after the Second World War for £65 ( equivalent of £1,600 then)

The family of the late couple decided to sell it at auction and hoped it would raise £20,000.

But Chinese bidders went mad over the blue and white piece and it eventually sold for 84 times the estimate, £1.6 million

Now if the rim had not been damaged it would have sold for even more, May be £2 million

The bowl would have been used in dice games and dates from the time of Emperor Xuande, who ruled between 1425 and 1435.
The bowl is decorated with dragons.

Peter Bainbridge the owner of the auction house said. It is exceptionally rare and would have been more valuable had there not been some damage

It was sold by Bainbridge’s auction house in Ruislip, north-west London. If you remember the same saleroom that sold a Chinese
vase in 2010 for £59million.

Peter Bainbridge, who runs the saleroom, said: “This bowl was used for games, but you wouldn’t have shaken it, you would have just rolled the dice with it.

“It came from a collection that was passed down from the Harrimans and has been on display at Nottingham museum.