$45 garage sale item fetches almost $1 million
A garage sale item sold for $50 has gone under the hammer for more than $900,000.
An exceptionally rare bowl from the 15th century, made in China, was sold without thought at a garage sale in the US state of Connecticut.
Adorned with cobalt blue paintings of flowers and other designs – the small white bowl is just one of only seven that are known to exist in the world.
The auction ran by Sotheby’s estimated the artefact to be worth $380,000 to $640,000.
However, it seems the bowl defied all expectations after it received 15 bids starting at $256,000 and ended at $923,797 after various fees.
The antique comes from the Ming Dynasty-era.
Angela McAteer, head of Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art Department, said the result for the “exceptionally rare” bowl “epitomises the incredible”.
The bowl was made in the early 1400s during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, the third rules of the Ming Dynasty, and was created specifically for the Yongle Court.