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NEW YORK — A bowl purchased for $3 at a New York yard sale was auctioned off for $2.2 million after the bowl's new owners realized it was a millenium-old dish from China.
The ceramic bowl is five inches in diameter and has a saw-tooth pattern etched around the outside. It was from the Northern Song Dynasty, which ruled China from 960 to 1127 and was known for its culture and creative arts.
The only other known similar bowl has been housed at the British Museum for more than 60 years, according to Sotheby's, the auction house. Sotheby's had estimated the bowl would sell for $200,000–$300,000 at auction.
Instead, the bowl went to London dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi for $2.2 million. The sellers, whose names were not listed, bought the bowl in 2007 and had kept it on their mantel until they decided to sell it.
"At the time, the purchaser had no idea that they had happened upon a 1,000-year-old treasure," Cecilia Leung of Sotheby's told CNN.
No other details about the family were released.
Other recent auction items have made headlines, including a piece of Princess Diana's wedding cake from 1981.
In December of last year, an anonymous buyer purchased the famed Casablanca piano for $600,000.
