They buy a porcelain bowl at a flea market for $3 and then discover it's worth $2 million
Are you one of those people who like to get lost in the stalls of flea markets or antiques fairs? Know that there are people who have managed to make great deals by buying rare and precious pieces by pure chance. A New York family, for example, would never have expected to buy a very precious Chinese "Ding" vase dating back to the "Song" dynasty. Yet it looked like a very ordinary bowl! Whoever had the idea of buying it, will have unconsciously felt the eternal beauty that emanated from it. Whether it was luck or mere chance, the object in question had such a high value that it has forever changed the life of this anonymous American family.
If all the flea markets were as satisfactory as the one visited by the family that in this story, we would probably be looking for a rare piece for our collection every Sunday. Usually, in fact, the products are sold at very low prices since the goods don't have a known value. Those who had the idea of buying this white porcelain bowl, in fact, did not believe that they were receiving a precious object in their hands. Officially the bowl was $3 and this was the price paid by the lucky family.
The bowl actually looked well made - a detail recognizable even at first glance. Without thinking too much, however, it was placed as an ornament in the dining room, within everyone's reach and without too many pretensions. It wasn't until some time later, when family members began to hear about Chinese art, that the bowl was valued. No one would have ever imagined its origins: it was a "Ding" bowl of very fine white porcelain, dating back to the Chinese "Song" dynasty, which reigned in China between 960 and 1279.
The bowl was evaluated and on that occasion the family discovered with great surprise that there was only one other bowl similar to that one in the world, and it was kept at the British Museum in London. Needless to say, its value was inestimable.
The bowl was auctioned for 2.23 million dollars, an astronomical figure that no one, on that famous Sunday at the market, would have ever dreamed of seeing with their own eyes.
Are you already checking when the next market is on in your area?
