Long story short, they thought the vase was a copy and valued it at around $1,900. Turns out, buyers thought it was the real deal and the vase sold for a whopping $7.5 million, reports The Guardian.
The white vase, which has blue dragon and cloud illustrations all over it, might not be a 20th century copy as the employee believed. Instead, the market determined it was a true Qing dynasty vase stamped by the dynasty’s fifth emperor, Qianlong, who reigned from 1735 to 1799.
Jean-Pierre Osenat, who has gaveled at auctions for 41 years, told the outlet, “This is a crazy story. Quite extraordinary.”
As for the employee who lost their job for mislabeling the vase, Osenat said, “The expert made a mistake. One person alone against 300 interested Chinese buyers cannot be right … He was working for us. He no longer works for us. It was, after all, a serious mistake.”
The vase came into the auction house’s possession via an anonymous seller who found it while going through their late mother’s estate.
Once the vase was listed, Osenat said interest sparked almost immediately. “They came with lamps and magnifying glasses to look at it. Obviously they saw something,” he offered, adding that bidding for the vase was “frantic.”
The buyer will remain anonymous, but was reportedly Chinese.
As for the seller, Osenat said, “She’s completely unsettled. If it had sold for €150,000 that would have been something, but €7.7m is something else. She’s terrified of being in the press and quite traumatized by it.”
The employee still believes the vase is a copy.
An employee of a French auction house is out of a job after undervaluing a blue-and-white Chinese dragon vase.
Long story short, they thought the vase was a copy and valued it at around $1,900. Turns out, buyers thought it was the real deal and the vase sold for a whopping $7.5 million, reports The Guardian.
The white vase, which has blue dragon and cloud illustrations all over it, might not be a 20th century copy as the employee believed. Instead, the market determined it was a true Qing dynasty vase stamped by the dynasty’s fifth emperor, Qianlong, who reigned from 1735 to 1799.
Jean-Pierre Osenat, who has gaveled at auctions for 41 years, told the outlet, “This is a crazy story. Quite extraordinary.”
As for the employee who lost their job for mislabeling the vase, Osenat said, “The expert made a mistake. One person alone against 300 interested Chinese buyers cannot be right … He was working for us. He no longer works for us. It was, after all, a serious mistake.”
The vase came into the auction house’s possession via an anonymous seller who found it while going through their late mother’s estate.
Once the vase was listed, Osenat said interest sparked almost immediately. “They came with lamps and magnifying glasses to look at it. Obviously they saw something,” he offered, adding that bidding for the vase was “frantic.”
The buyer will remain anonymous, but was reportedly Chinese.
As for the seller, Osenat said, “She’s completely unsettled. If it had sold for €150,000 that would have been something, but €7.7m is something else. She’s terrified of being in the press and quite traumatized by it.”
The employee still believes the vase is a copy.