Collector forgets he has a matching pair

An antiques collectors was thrilled when his antique 'rice' bowl from the 18th century fetched a staggering £235,000 at auction, but it wasn't until after the sale that the family remembered they had its matching pair. The second bowl is now set to command a similar price when it sells as a single lot, making a total of nearly £470,000 for the pair. But experts believe that had the items been offered together they could have fetched over £600,000. The owner had inherited the two Imperial porcelain bowls from his father who had brought them back from working in China in the 1920s. The extremely rare bowls are six inches in diameter, are decorated with pheasants and were made for the Chinese Emperor Kangxi in the 1720s.

The first pheasant bowl was sold last year by the Canterbury Auction Galleries in Kent that had put a pre-sale estimate of £8,000 to £12,000 on it. But because the market for Oriental antiques is booming at the moment due to the newly-rich Chinese buying back their heritage, bidding on it took off. It eventually went to an anonymous Chinese buyer, who saw off 11 other rival bidders to net it for £195,000. With the fees added on he would have paid £235,000.

The same auction house is now selling the second bowl. Although the estimate is £150,000 there is no reason why it will not sell for a similar price. The auction for the second bowl takes place on April 16-17.