18th Century Chinese Vase Scores for World's Oldest Auction House

Qianlong period piece goes for 20-times
starting price for Auktionsverk

A Chinese 18th-century vase fetched 2.15 million kronor ($269,000), more than 20 times its starting price at Stockholm's Auktionsverk, the world's oldest auction house, according to Bloomberg.

The vase, dated 1784 from the Qianlong period, sold at the Fine Arts & Antiques auction that began yesterday, Stockholms Auktionsverk said today. The vase, displaying mountains and pavilions, had a starting price of 80,000 kronor to 100,000 kronor and was picked up by a Chinese collector.

The auction house sold art and antiques for 11.1 million kronor yesterday, below the total starting price of 13 million kronor. Some 23 percent of the items failed to reach their starting prices and went unsold. The Fine Arts & Antiques auction continues through Friday.