10/28/01Couple learns cracked vase worth thousands

[Dark Blue]

upi.com Wrote:

DORCHESTER, England, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- An elderly British couple has been told a cracked Chinese vase they hid in a spare bedroom is worth more than their house and possibly everything else in it.

The couple, who want to remain anonymous, received the blue and white lantern vase as a gift half a century ago, The Sun reported. An appraiser for Dukes auction house in Dorchester spotted it during a routine appraisal at the couple's home in Dorset.

Guy Schwinge of Dukes said the vase is expected to bring in 500,000 pounds ($807,000) when it is auctioned. If it was in mint condition, it might fetch twice that, he told the Sun.

The vase was made in about 1740 for the Emperor Qianlong, Schwinge said. He said it may have belonged to the family of Florence Nightingale, founder of trained nursing, during the 19th century.

Schwinge said the vase "exemplifies the best porcelain of the period."

"There is evidence that it had been used as an umbrella stand and it does have a crack in it and has been splashed with paint," he said.

[embm]

damn
man i wish i cud find somthin tats antique in this house