Written-off Chinese vase makes £27,000 at auction

The Chinese vase attracted international interest when it went under the hammer at Brigg at the weekend.

The 11 inch high blue and white vase carried a six-character Jaijing mark, which suggested it could date as far back as the 16th century.

When its owners had it valued back in the early 1980s they were told it was just a 19th century copy. The family didn't bother to put it on display until a few weeks ago when they brought it to a routine valuation session at Brown & Co's auction rooms.

On the day of the auction, every phone line into the room was booked and bidders were logged in from around the world on the internet. The bidding started at 10,000 and within less than a minute had reached 24,000. With buyer's commission that means a price of 27,600.

The successful buyer was a Chinese collector based in Edinburgh bidding on the telephone.

Auctioneer Craig Bewick said: "The market for Chinese antiques is absolutely incredible at the moment. In large part that is down to the fact that there are now many extremely affluent Chinese people both in mainland China and elsewhere around the world."

quite a lot: Porter Ken Knapton with the vase, once written off as a reproduction worth 400, during the auction at Brigg.