From the article:
It was eventually sold to a Chinese man, said to be a Beijing-based agent, who sat on a gilded sofa at the front of the room but refused to comment after the sale.
The owners, who had no idea quite how much the vase was worth, were so shocked that they had to leave the room for a breath of fresh air.
Standing 16 inches tall and decorated with fish, the vase is thought to date from the time of Qianlong, the fourth emperor in the Qing dynasty, around 1740.
Experts said it probably once belonged to Chinese royalty but was most likely taken out of the country at the end of the Second Opium War in 1860 when the palaces were ransacked.
It is understood to have been in the vendors’ family since the 1930s.
________________________________________________________
i.e. STOLEN FROM THE CHINESE - I hope the ‘cheque’ clears the bank!!!!
Rather interesting timing, given yesterday’s flap about David Cameron wearing a poppy in his lapel as a symbol of Remembrance Day, and the Chinese leaders being offended by something that reminds them of their loss to Britain in the Opium Wars.