Vase that was used as a doorstop auctioned for £650,000

The antique vase, which was unearthed at a home in the Black Country, has been described by auctioneers as 'the find of a lifetime.'

It had been discovered propping open a door, but was later discovered to be a rare Chinese artefact from the 18th century

It was auctioned off today by Derbyshire based company Hanson's and was originally thought it might be sold for around a million pounds, but in the end fetched £650,000.

A similar vase can be found in the Nanjing Museum in China ‎and important other museum and private collections. The vase's pattern incorporates clear design influences from the European baroque, and elegantly combines the traditional 'heaped and piled' effect of much earlier Ming blue and ‎whites.