Ming vase bought for £8.50 and 'used as doorstop' sells for £3,400

A cafe worker who bought an £8.50 vase at a charity shop as a decoration for her mother's downstairs toilet has sold it three years later for £3,400.

When she bought the antique in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, 23-year-old Mary Lawler was unaware it was a valuable Ming-dynasty era (1368 to 1644) Chinese relic... as, presumably, was its previous owner.

Her mother Amy, 49, had tasked her with finding an ornament for her downstairs toilet.

Following the purchase, the 10" tall vase had a stint in the room before being used as a doorstop in the porch.

They only learnt of its value after seeing a similar vase on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow programme. It was valued at £10,000.

Lawler took it to Lockdales Auctioneers in Ipswich, Suffolk, which confirmed its importance and this week sold it on her behalf.

The vase achieved a hammer price of £3,400, with auctioneer fees taking the final figure, paid by a UK private collector, to £4,195.

Lawler will spend the proceeds on repairing her Volkswagen Golf.

Her mother, a supply teacher from Norfolk, said: "We were decorating the downstairs toilet about three years ago in a 1970s style and my daughter went around some charity shops to find something to put in it.

"She sent me a picture of the vase and I said yes, so she paid £8.50 for it and brought it home.

"We had only planned to send a fiver!"

She added: "When we saw the vase that appeared on the Antiques Roadshow we thought 'that is exactly like ours'. We took it into the auctioneers and it is both shocking and exciting to learn how much it is worth."

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Chris Elmy, of Lockdales, said: "It was a privilege to work with this rare piece of ceramic art.

"The design of the vase is very intricate, being a 'vase within a vase' with lattice-work sides, and would have been the work of an expert potter.

"It is not something you see every day in the average charity shop."