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

well one in the making,

whilst doing a routine valuation at a house near Colchester, Essex an eagle eyed expert spotted this pair of bowls on their original stands in a barn, it is thought the matching yellow pair were made in the 19th or early 20th century for the last dowager empress of China, Cixi, to keep her goldfish in, they measure 18 by 21 inches and are stamped with the iron-red Dayazhai character mark enclosed within an oval medallion with a dragon border,

James Grinter, from Reeman Dansie’s auction house in Colchester, was the expert who spotted the bowls, he said, 'I was on a routine valuation and these bowls were in a barn and had clearly been there for many years and were covered in dust, they have the mark of the last dowager empress of China, but we can’t say if they were used by her or came from an imperial palace - we’ll let the market decide that,'

and how much will the lucky owner receive for them? they are now to be sold at auction and have been given a conservative estimate of £10,000, which seems a bit low but one of them has been restored a long time ago, which is one of the reasons why the estimate is quite low, if you would like to be their new owner the porcelain pair are going under the hammer on July 31 at Reeman Dansie’s auction house in Colchester, but I wonder what the final price for the owner will be, lucky or what!