Check your lofts/attics !

A Chinese Vase which was kept in an Attic,was sold at Auction, including v. a. t. and expences
for a total of £53 million :yez::yez:.
The owner only got £43 million :( Poor Soul .
I checked my loft only an old pram/ table and chairs/xmas decs hardly worth forty three pounds :(
music .

 

I['ve got a lot of old cardboard boxes for stuff we've long since thrown out and an old Hohner guitar amp, but that's about it!

 

The sad bit is the history of how that vase may have got to the UK. If it was originally in the old Summer Palace of Beijing, which was looted and burnt by invading European troops in 1860, then it was was probably carried home as booty :(

 

Possibly not as sad as ending up in a bungalow in Pinner.

 

Talking of finds when clearing stuff out. But nothing of real value.

In the fifties, my father-in-law who was a decorator had been asked by the family to clear out a flat in Chelsea Cloisters of unwanted furniture and effects of a family member who had died and take it to the tip.
In the back of an old chest of drawers he found a postcard addressed to the person who died. The sender spoke about personal stuff, but concluded with "The new play I'm writing is going well."
The play was Pygmalion and the postcard signed G. B. Shaw.

My S.I.L has it.

 

no treasures in the attic here either - just a few rat droppings & owl feathers!!! (We live in an old barn just in case you are wondering!)

 

I built my attic.

 

Late Flash !. The Vase was Valued at £800 a few months Ago :yez:.
The Vase was also on the B.B.C. " Going For A Song" 40 years ago and an unnamed (EXPERT).
Said it was a very clever Reproduction :D.

music .

 

Unless you are an expert, chinese pottery/porcelain is not that easy to discern between an original, a chinese 19th century 'copy' (produced for the Chinoiserie craze) or a mass produced 20th century copy.

 

:lollol:Old jokes are always the best, John, specially when they come from the great man!

 

When I cleared out my late parents' loft, amongst the broken iron, electric fire, b/w TV, some of my (very moth-eaten) baby clothes and general dross, I found a large box containing ..... nothing but carefully smoothed out and folded (previously used) 1950s type Christmas wrapping paper. I know my parents had what my daughters call 'the war mentality' (whereby you must have at least 2 'spares' of everything), but I can't help but wonder at what point my Mother expected a shortage of Christmas wrapping paper!

 

My MIL was a bit of a hoarder of packaged foods, my nephew used to call her spare bedroom "Tescos!"

 

Nice story Doghouse. It always amazes me to think that everyone famous started out unknown and did normal everyday things, for example Shakespeare must have written alot of other stuff before his remembered and published works aod they must have existed and been owned by someone before being thrown away and forgotten about, how I wish my ancestors had been abit more careful !!! :hehe: