A Chinese vase that spent years as a doorstop could sell for £1m ($1.5m) next month.
The 18th century Qianlong period vase had resided in a doorway in Birmingham, UK for four decades before Hansons Auctioneers valued the home.
 One expensive doorstop... |
The vase has been estimated to make up to £500,000 ($750,000), but history suggests it could achieve far more. China's nouveau riche are keen repatriators of their country's artistic heritage and routinely fight it out over prized pieces in the UK's provincial auction houses.
Earlier this year, an early 18th Century Yongzheng vase, bought for £12 ($17) in the 1950s, sold for £900,000 ($1.3m), after bidders from China and Hong Kong flew to Oxfordshire, UK to place bids.
The present example bears a strong resemblance to a vase in China's Nanjing Museum, reports the Daily Mail.
"The current vendor inherited the item from his Great Aunt Flo in 1978," explained auction house owner Charles Hanson to the publication.
"She was an antiques dealer in her native Cornwall, but despite that, appears to have had no idea as to its true value.
"She used it as a doorstop until it was passed down to her great nephew. He kept it on display as a talking point in his hallway, but after years of passing it each time he entered or left his house he decided to have it valued because he always had an inkling it could be worth something."
The vase sells at the Derbyshire, UK auction house on July 1.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about antique auctions.
