An incredibly valuable vase claimed to be worth just hundreds of pounds on a BBC show then sold for £53,000,000. The porcelain vase dates back to the Qing dynasty in the mid-eighteenth century. But none of this rich history was discovered when it made an appearance on the 1970s BBC antique series, Going for a Song.
![[Chinese vase from the Qianlong Dynasty]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AY_53391956-1555.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
A British couple took it on the series (originally presented by Max Robertson) on which ‘connoisseurs and customers explore the world of antiques’ and were left disappointed when the vase was dubbed a ‘very clever reproduction’ worth only £800.
![[Arthur Negus, left, and Max Robertson in the television programme 'Going for a Song' in 1976.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AY_53462679-332e.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
It ended up in an attic for four decades, collecting dust, until the owners died and their relatives recovered it and pursued a new valuation in 2010, where Bainbridges Auction House experts saw its true potential. ‘They told me it had been valued at just £800 two months earlier. They also mentioned that it had been appraised on Going for a Song about 40 years ago, where it was deemed a reproduction,’manager David Reay said in resurfaced comments.
![[Fiona Bruce holding a vase]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_222164143-24ed.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
According to experts at the time, the 1740 Qing dynasty vase was looted by British and French soldiers from the Summer Palace in Peking during the Second Opium War occupied by Emperor Xianfeng. Even then it was originally re-valued at £1million but pricing skyrocketed during bidding as buyers raced to get their hands on this precious historical artefact.
