£1 lion nets a small fortune
IT COST £1 from a charity shop - and sold for £1,500.
This diminutive pottery lion with a missing tail turned up at Tennants in Harrogate as part of an unassuming bag of bric a brac.
"As usual I proceeded to look through the array of goods," said Nigel Smith, associate director at the Montpellier Parade auctioneers.
"Some ordinary items of modest value were placed before me – and then out of the packing came a real gem."
Liberated weeks earlier from an Easingwold charity shop, the lion had been bought by a couple from the town for just 1.
Mr Smith said: "The lady took it to the counter where the assistant told her she could take it for nothing as the tail was missing – however she insisted on paying a minimum of a 1 for it and took it home." Little did they know that their purchase was a piece of Staffordshire Pearlware dating back to 1830.
Missing tail
"Beautifully coloured in bright enamels with one paw resting on a globe symbolic of imperial domination," said Mr Smith.
"It was raised on a rectangular base with four short bracket feet, very much in the manner of Obadiah Sherratt of Staffordshire, perfect in every detail apart from the tail, which should have looped over its back, had been knocked off and was missing."
The lion was put into a weekly auction advertised on the internet and sold for 1,500 to a woman in Florida.
Mr Smith said: "Now I work that out at 1,499 profit – not bad for a day's work, just a pity that the tail was missing. We all dream of finding a bargain.
"If we believe the world of Bargain Hunt, Flog-it and Cash in the Attic, then occasionally it does happen. Something completely overlooked and discarded turns out to be worth a small fortune."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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