Collector paid £19 for Ming-era box; 77 years later, it sold for £288,000

A Chinese enamel box bought for £19 at a London auction in 1946 has sold for £288,000 after being rediscovered in a family attic, where it had remained largely unnoticed for decades.The 15th-century object, known as a cloisonné pomegranate box, went under the hammer at Dreweatts auction house in Berkshire with an estimate of £6,000 to £10,000. Competitive bidding pushed the final price far beyond that range, with an Asian private collector securing the piece.The box belonged to Major Edward Copleston Radcliffe, who bought it at Sotheby’s in 1946. After he died in 1967, it remained among other objects in his collection until his family sent the items to Dreweatts for assessment.Rare Chinese box dates back to 15th centuryDreweatts specialists Mark Newstead and Yingwen Tao recognised the box’s significance during their examination of the collection.