WHAT A GREAT BUY

When I was studying in England, I loved to go to the Car Boot Sales on Sunday to look for bargains.  However, I was never lucky enough to buy an antique worth millions of pounds for a few Malaysian ringgit. This was what happened to a family in New York that bought an antique Chinese bowl worth millions.

Read the story below...

RM9 garage sale bowl is really RM7m Chinese antique

Check your grandma's kitchen bowls now!

A thousand-year-old Chinese pottery bowl that was bought for a few US dollars at a garage sale in New York state has sold for more than US$2.23 million (RM6.9 million) at an auction in New York City.

An unnamed New York family bought the "Ding" bowl, which dates from the Song Dynasty that ruled China from 960 to 1279, for no more than US$3 (RM9.30) in 2007 and displayed it on a mantlepiece with no idea as to its real worth.

But after consulting with experts, the owners consigned the bowl for auction and Sotheby's estimated it would sell for US$200,000 to US$300,000.

But four bidders battled over the rare find, and London dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi ultimately paid US$2.23 million including commission for the bowl, which measures just over five inches in diameter.

Sotheby's said the only known bowl—finely crafted with an ivory glaze—of the same form, size and almost identical decoration from the same period has been in the collection of the British Museum in London for more than 60 years.

Source: Reuters

Published: 26th March 2013