Cash in the attic! £200,000 for haul of broken crockery

A box of broken porcelain left forgotten in an attic for more than 20 years has sold for almost £200,000.

Gill Stewart had been left the box of crockery by her grandfather, who was stationed in China during the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the 20th century, but assumed they were largely worthless due to damage.

She discovered the box again when she went into the attic of her home in Benniworth, Linconshire, to get her Christmas decorations down and considered just throwing it in the bin.

But she decided to take it to John Taylors Auctions in Louth to see if it was worth selling.

They gave the collection an estimate of £740-1,350, but the interest in Chinese porcelain saw the 13 lots go for a staggering £162,000 hammer price, rising to £196,992 including fees.

Her grandfather, Brigadier Robert Kellie OBE, collected the pieces between 1899 and 1901, and it comprised pieces mainly from the Daoguang to the Guangxu periods.

Brig Kellie had kept notes of some of the pieces, detailing the reign mark, design and who was responsible for any damage, which was usually his wife.

Ms Stewart was given the box labelled ‘broken porcelain’ when her grandparents died, took it to her home in Lincolnshire in 2002 and put it in the attic.

The two best-selling lots went to a UK dealer who was in the room. A lot of 16 pieces of porcelain, including four ‘month cups’ of the type made at the Imperial kilns in the Kangxi period, had an estimate of £50-100 but sold for £59,000 hammer.

He also bought a group lot featuring two iron red and gilt decorated dragon and shou symbol cup stands with Qianlong marks and three famille rose dishes, which had an estimate of £40-80 and sold for £35,000.

A set of four Chinese tea bowls with matching saucers bearing a Tao Kuang reign mark and with some chips and repairs sold for £26,000 and a lot of two tea bowls and two bowls with cracks and chips made £10,000.

Auctioneer James Laverack said: ‘Before Christmas, the vendor went up in the attic to get her Christmas decorations, saw the box and thought ‘oh yes I must do something with that’.

‘So earlier this year she brought it in to us and asked if it was worth selling. I think she was in two minds as to whether it was worth selling or to just go in the bin.

‘We thought it would sell well but we didn’t think for a minute it would do that well.

‘We got some advice but Chinese porcelain is a minefield. As the week went on from it being listed it was apparent there was a lot of interest but even a few hours before the sale we didn’t expect the result.

‘I called the vendor when her lots had finished and she was very shocked. I asked her if she had watched, she said no. I asked if she was sitting down, she said no but I will now and I told her one of the lots sold for £59,000. 

She said ‘I beg your pardon’.

‘It’s the sort of stuff that doesn’t look like anything that special, that someone would pick up at a car boot sale, but it’s rare, collectable and it’s what the market wants.

‘One lot was broken and had been glued back together. Our expert told us it would be worth £20,000 in good condition, but ours wasn’t in good condition so we only had an estimate of £100.

‘It still sold for £5,000.’