A small white bowl was bought for $3 at a New York state garage sale in 2007, and sat in a family's living room for years. In 2013, experts identified it as a rare Chinese Ding bowl from the Northern Song dynasty. Sotheby's estimated it at $200,000 to $300,000, and at auction, a London dealer paid $2.225 million including commission. It came from a garage or tag sale where the buyers paid no more than $3. They took it home and kept it on display, and were apparently unaware that the plain-looking bowl dated to a period roughly 1,000 years earlier.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
