Bowl Bought For $35 At Conn. Yard Sale Is Actually Rare $500K Artifact

A floral bowl purchased for $35 at a yard sale in Connecticut has since been revealed to be an extremely rare Chinese artifact from the 15th century.

The blue-and-white bowl, which depicts patterns of lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and pomegranate blossoms, was created during the Ming dynasty and is now expected to sell for up to $500,000, according to Sotheby's auction house in New York, where it's scheduled to debut next month, CNN reports.

Sotheby's is not revealing the identity of the bowl's owner, but said the man "didn't haggle over the $35 asking price" when he bought it near New Haven, Connecticut, last year, according to Angela McAteer, the head of Sotheby's Chinese art department, in a phone interview with CNN.

After buying the bowl, the man sent pictures of it to auction specialists, who identified it as an artifact.

"We instinctively had a very, very good feeling about it," McAteer said.

Following close inspection, the artifact was discovered to have originated from the court of the Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1403 to 1424, which is a period heralded for its distinct porcelain techniques.

The "lotus bowl," a name given for its resemblance to a lotus bud, is now valued between $300,000 and $500,000, with the highest projection totaling nearly 14,300 what the man paid at the yard sale.

"(The bowl had an) incredibly smooth porcelain body" and a "really unctuous silky glaze," McAteer said, noting the design "was never replicated in future reigns or dynasties," via CNN. "It had all the hallmarks that one would expect of these great commissions of the Yongle period."

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