A brother and sister in Pinner, UK, cleaned out the house belonging to their recently-deceased parents. They figured that an old vase that they found might be worth a few bucks, so they decided to have it appraised:
The final selling price was about $85 million.
Link | Photo: Bloomberg
They took it to the local auctioneer Bainbridges, in nearby Ruislip, who were in turn excited by the find and valued it at between £800,000 and £1.2m.
However, no one expected the reaction from Chinese buyers, who pushed the bidding up over 30 frenzied minutes to a world record £43m.
By the end of the auction, the price was increasing in £1m chunks as the final few bidders - understood to be mainland Chinese businessmen - vied for the vase.
The final selling price was about $85 million.
Link | Photo: Bloomberg
As for the sum, I think it was just business men being dicks with their money just because they could :p China's already very stratified, but some people like to prove that even though they're in the top 0.05% of the population, they can still top the chump down the street who is willing to spend slightly less on an old vase.
Yeah, I'm thinking it was a battle of the narcissists too. Looks like this couple is set for life though.
It SOLD for $85 Mil (roughly £62.1m) because someone was wiling to pay that much to get it.
"Old Vase in Left Behind in House"
Old Vase Worth $85 Million Left Behind in House
Although it does imply grammatically that the house is worth $85 million, I think most people were able to figure out the $85 mil value is for the vase.
@MWHogan: Somebody paid $85 million, so that's what it was worth. If we go back to what the vase was ORIGINALLY worth, it's way less than the estimated value it was given before the auction.
An object or commodity is worth what people are willing to pay for it.
And yeah, the headline is backwards as pointed out by Wes and Zavatone.