An antique vase once dismissed as a worthless reproduction on a BBC show sat forgotten in a family attic for 40 years. Then someone finally looked it up and walked away with £53 million.
It’s the kind of story that makes you want to raid your nan’s loft immediately.
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The BBC Show That Got It Completely Wrong
Back in the 1970s, the BBC aired Going for a Song an early antiques game show widely considered a forerunner to Antiques Roadshow.
One hopeful British couple brought their ornate Chinese vase onto the show to be assessed by a panel of experts. The verdict? A curator confidently declared it a “very clever reproduction” essentially a posh fake.
Deflated, the couple took the antique vase home. And there it stayed, doing absolutely nothing on a bookshelf, for the next four decades.
Discovered by Chance, Then Everything Changed
When the couple eventually passed away, their relatives began clearing out the house. That’s when Bainbridge’s Auction House manager David Reay spotted the vase sitting on a bookcase.
He knew instantly it was something special.
The family told him it had been valued at just £800 only two months earlier. They also mentioned the Going for a Song episode and the “fake” verdict that had haunted it ever since.
Reay had the vase sent to the Arts Club of London, where specialists examined it properly. Their findings were extraordinary:
- The vase was made around 1740
- Created for Emperor Yongzheng, fifth emperor of China’s Qing dynasty
- It had likely been looted from the Imperial Summer Palace in Peking by British and French troops during the Second Opium War
After the war, soldiers were permitted to plunder Emperor Xianfeng’s Summer Palace before burning it to the ground. The vase had passed through a family relative who travelled abroad and somehow ended up in a British living room.
The Auction That Stunned the Room
When the antique vase went to auction, it was initially valued at £1 million. Phones were ringing off the hook before the bidding even began.
What followed was one of the most dramatic auction moments in recent history.
Auctioneer Peter Bainbridge later recalled: “There was a silence that wrapped itself around the sale as the figure grew slowly but surely up to the sky.”
The hammer eventually fell at £43 million. With commission and VAT added, the final total came to an eye-watering £53,105,000.
The owners were so overwhelmed they had to leave the room to compose themselves. Bainbridge himself took home approximately £10 million in commission.
Why It Matters: The Lesson in Every Attic
This isn’t just a feel-good story. It’s a reminder that antique valuations, even from so-called experts on national television, can be spectacularly wrong.
Key takeaways:
- TV appraisals from the 1970s were far from infallible
- Imperial Chinese ceramics from the Qing dynasty are among the most valuable objects in the world
- One “worthless” vase became the highest price ever paid at a UK regional auction at the time
If you’ve got anything gathering dust at home, it might be worth a second opinion.
FAQ Section
What is the antique vase that sold for £53 million?
It’s an 18th-century Chinese porcelain vase made around 1740 for the fifth emperor of China’s Qing dynasty. The antique vase was dismissed as a reproduction on the BBC’s Going for a Song before selling for £53 million at Bainbridge’s Auction House in 2010.
Where was the antique vase found?
The antique vase was discovered sitting on a bookcase in a family home during a house clearance. It had been stored away for roughly 40 years after being called a fake on television.
How much did the antique vase actually sell for?
The antique vase sold at hammer for £43 million. Including buyer’s premium and VAT, the total price paid was £53,105,000, making it one of the most valuable Chinese ceramics ever sold at auction in the UK.
