This Vase Was Used As A Doorstopper — Wait Until You See How Much It's Worth

The owners had no idea it was a rare Chinese artifact.

Courtesy of Hansons

You may want to take a quick look around your home: If you have a vase similar to the one in the video below, you may just have a very valuable and historic piece of treasure on your hands.

This seemingly ordinary blue-and-white vase, the possession of one family from Birmingham, England, turned out to be a rare 18th-century Chinese artifact that sold for $860,000 at a Hansons auction, according to the Huffington Post. The family had been using it as a doorstopper.

Experts from the auction house believe the 26-inch vase was made between 1735 and 1799 during Emperor Qianlong's reign, and was created for the emperor's summer palace. Hansons originally estimated the vase would be sold for $400,000-$660,000.

While the auctioneers aren't exactly sure how it ended up in England, they know the vase formerly belonged to the client's great aunt Florence, known as "Auntie Flori," who was an antiques dealer in the 1920s. They believe she bought it from a "country house sale" around that time.

(h/t the Huffington Post)

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