In 2008, a woman bought a glass vase for just £1 at a car-boot sale in Dumfries, Scotland, because she liked how it looked. She used it as a plant pot without knowing that it was a rare piece by French glass designer René Lalique. Later that year, the vase was identified as a valuable 1929 Lalique creation and sold at Christie’s auction house in London for £32,450. As reported by The Guardian in June 2009, the sale was an example of how an ordinary second-hand purchase can turn out to be worth far more than its original price.
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