New York family bought a $3 garage-sale bowl in 2007; 6 years later, it was identified as rare Chinese Ding ware and sold for $2.225 million

A $3 bowl from a New York tag sale turned out to be worth a lot more than a family could have ever dreamed of. In 2007, a New York family bought the bowl, apparently thinking it was a cheap item, not a valuable piece of Chinese art. It sat in their house for a couple of years. There was no indication at the time that the small bowl would eventually be the subject of a multi-million dollar auction.

But six years after the purchase, experts took a closer look at the piece and said that it was rare Chinese Ding ware.