A yard sale customer in Connecticut bought a small porcelain bowl for $35, and on a hunch, emailed Sotheby's to see if it was worth anything. Now the bowl, a "15th century Chinese artifact" only 6-inches in diameter, is going up for auction and its estimated worth is between $300,000–$500,000.
From AP:
The piece, one of only seven such bowls known to exist in the world, will be up for auction in New York on March 17 as part of Sotheby's Auction of Important Chinese Art. …
"It was immediately apparent to both of us that we were looking at something really very, very special," said McAteer, Sotheby's senior vice president and head of its Chinese Works of Art Department. "The style of painting, the shape of the bowl, even just the color of the blue is quite characteristic of that early, early 15th century period of porcelain." …
How the bowl ended up at a Connecticut yard sale remains a mystery. McAteer said it's possible it was passed down through generations of the same family who did not know how unique it was.
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