The six-inch statue turned out to be an 18th Century Sino-Tibetan sculpture of a Buddhist deity and his consort.
Auctioneer John Nicholson thought it might fetch up to £700 as the Asian art market had recently "softened".
Mr Nicholson described the eventual sale price of the "Buddha bonanza" as "exceptional".
The gilt-bronze sculpture depicts the multi-armed Hayagriva, a Tantric Buddhist deity, and his consort.
The woman, from Midhurst in West Sussex, who does not want to be named, said: "I still can't believe it.  When the hammer went down I was stunned and close to tears."
She added: "I just loved it when I bought it two or three years ago. I thought it was different, but I couldn't believe it would go for anything like that amount."
A small ornament picked up at a car boot sale for £4 by a West Sussex pensioner has fetched £9,500 at auction.