This Is One Of Those 'Why Does This Never Happen To Me?' Posts,

lurking in a spare room, a vase sat, slightly cracked with paint splashes on it, sometimes used as an umbrella stand, but thanks to the sharp eyes of auctioneer Matthew Denney, the vase turns out to be more valuable than the house it lives in! it was an imperial vase and almost certainly made for the Emperor Qianlong in about 1740, although it is thought it could be worth as much as £500,000, its value could have been double that price had it not been damaged, the base bears his imperial reign mark and, unusually, the upper body has an impressed mark in Chinese script which has been translated as 'precious thing', the production of porcelain in China entered a golden period during the reign of the Emperor Qianlong, under his patronage, porcelain production reached heights of refinement and creativity never to be surpassed, it is not known when the vase came to Britain, but it has been connected with Embley Court in Hampshire, where Florence Nightingale's family lived, the vendors had owned it for 50 years but had no idea what it was, well I hope they will enjoy the fortune that a present to them all that time ago will bring, now let me look in the attic again!