A UK antiquities collector has discovered that an old plate that has been gathering dust on a shelf is a work worth £210,000 R$1 million at current exchange rates and may have been created in the 14th century.
The Brit was delighted after taking the piece to an auction house and discovering its true value. According to The Sun, experts suspected the piece, measuring 12 inches in diameter, to date from the Ming Dynasty of Imperial China.
After inheriting the relic, the owner put the dish on a shelf and forgot about it for decades. He had no idea the piece was worth the sixfigure sum, although he suspected it would be Chinese.
Before the sale, the dish was initially valued at £3,000, around R$19,000. But the process of making the dish known as diaoqi was an extremely timeconsuming and complicated task, adding to its initial value.
Experts have noted that this type of art peaked during the Yuan Dynasty and was later offered as a diplomatic gift in the early Ming Dynasty, suggesting the dish is even older.
Adrian Rathbone, deputy director of Kinghams Auctioneers, said the supplier brought the dish “on a whim”.
“They inherited it about 20 or 30 years ago and it sat on a shelf just gathering dust,” he said.