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A prominent old world collection of imperial ceramics fetched $72 million at a Sotheby's Hong Kong sale on Wednesday, with an early Ming cobalt blue Meiping vase going for a record $21.6 million despite recent financial market turmoil. The Meiyintang collection, a unique, respected assemblage of Chinese porcelain collected over nearly half a century by Swiss tycoons, the Zuellig brothers, was offered onto the market for the first time in April in a highly anticipated Hong Kong sale.

OK folks, need some help. I have scoured the net and have yet to find documentation on what these are or a history on their worth.Anybody???

Chinese find shipwreck laden with Ming porcelain Wed Jun 13, 4:21 AM ET BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese archaeologists have found an ancient sunken ship in the South China Sea laden with Ming Dynasty porcelain, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Divers used satellite navigation equipment to find the vessel, dubbed South China Sea II, which is about 17 to 18 meters (yards) long and lying at a depth of 20 meters. "A preliminary study of the sunken ship shows it may have sunk 400 years ago after striking a reef," archaeologist Dr Wei Jun was quoted as saying. The...

Archaeologists find cradle of china in north China Archaeologists have unearthed three high-temperature ceramic kilns dating back about 2,000 years in a North China village, which shows North China was also the cradle of porcelain, against the conception that porcelain only originates from south China. The archaeologists from the Hebei provincial cultural relic research institute drew the conclusion on the basis that analysis on wares in the kilns suggests they were made at more than 1,100 Celsius degree, exceeding the temperature of 800-900 Celsius degree required for pottery-making. Although built during the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 24), the kilns...

Ancient Porcelain Clue to Maritime Silk Road In June, local fishermen discovered the wreckage of a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) ship in the "Bowl Reef" or Wan Jiao in Pingtan County, Fujian Province. Archaeologists identified the wreck as having been manufactured during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) and named it "Bowl Reef No. 1", Wan Jiao Yi Hao. To their surprise, the archaeological team also found rare pieces of blue and white porcelain among the wreckage, loot that could hold the key to an ancient maritime trading route. Excavation works began on September 17, conducted by research staff from the...

Source: University Of Arizona Date: 2005-09-07 Mystery Surrounds 'Porcelain Of The Southwest' Caitlin O’Grady hopes to crack a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists and potters for more than 100 years. Caitlin O'Grady, a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering, works on several pots in UA's Arizona State Museum. She's unraveling the secrets of the technology used to create prehistoric Sikyatki pottery. (Arizona State Museum Photo) It surrounds small pieces of broken Hopi pottery, some of which are now in O’Grady’s lab in the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) department at The University of Arizona. O’Grady, an MSE Ph.D. student,...