Factory Worker Discovers Ming Vase

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A 79-year-old British retired worker
wanted the press to not publish his
name, but walked into an auction
house with an almost perfect Ming
vase in a card-board box.

The Dorchester auction house, Duke's,
were amazed by the "spectacular find."

"When my colleague initially showed me
what had arrived in a cardboard box I
could not believe my eyes," Guy
Schwinge of Duke's told the Guardian.
"The vase is in perfect condition,
and it is amazing to think that it
has survived unscathed for almost
six hundred years."

The BBC reported that the vase, which
stands 11.5 inches tall, is the largest
ever found of a rare group of early Ming
"moonflasks" whose production dates
somewhere between the years 1403 and
1424. It was manufactured during the
reign of an emperor named Yongle, and
its distinctive features such as the
small loop handles appear to be
influenced by Islamic design.

The auction is scheduled for May,
and the item is expected to bring
at least a million pounds, or
somewhere in the neighborhood of
$1.6 million United States dollars.

It's not sure how the man came into
possession of the vase.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110208074635writ.nb/topstory.html