Vases found while housecleaning net $1.5M

EMSWORTH, England, July 31 (UPI) -- Housecleaning proved profitable for an elderly British man, when two vases discovered during the cleaning sold for more than $1.5 million at auction.

The 11-inch tall vases, which specialists said were Chinese moon flasks, were part of a lot cleared from an elderly man's house near Emsworth, England, when he became ill and went to a nursing home for care, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday. Auctioneers Henry Adams included the pair in its July sale in Chichester.

Lynn Corbett, fine arts administrator at the company, said moon flask fakes are common, so the opening price was kept low.

"It was not until the auction started that we realized the significance of them," Corbett said. "A lot of collectors came from abroad to bid."

A London dealer bought the vases for an Asian client.

Specialists at the auction determined the vases were fired during the reign of the Emperor Qianlong during the 1700s and were looted from the Imperial Palace during the 1901 Boxer Rebellion, the British newspaper said.

The windfall for the vases' previous owner will help pay for his nursing home care.