This Is Another One Of Those Good Luck Stories I Like so Much,

again featuring a Chinese vase,

the Chinese Ming-style porcelain moonflask was given to the owner, the daughter of naval hero Captain Edward Watkins Whittington-Ince, who was a Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies from 1925-27, many years ago, the woman, aged in her 80s, lives in West Dorset and took the vase to get valued at a village antiques day, so you can imagine her shock when opening the the carrier bag it was in she subsequently found out it was worth up £500,000!


the vase, described as being of 'the highest quality', is painted with delicate cobalt blue designs of birds perched on a prunas branch - a popular theme for porcelain painters, the theme remained popular through the Ming dynasty - 1368 to 1644 - and was revived for the Qing dynasty - 1644 to 1912, for me a great story, but it makes me wonder how many other treasures are out there waiting to be taken out in a carrier bag?