Small bowl snapped up for $35 at a garage sale may be worth $500,000, Sotheby’s says

Talk about an exceptional garage sale discovery.

A small bowl at a yard sale last year in Connecticut caught the eye of a shopper. Despite its size — only about 6 inches in diameter — he was attracted to its intricate blue-and-white floral design, according to Sotheby’s.

Without hesitation, he purchased the bowl.

“(He) didn’t haggle over the $35 asking price,” Angela McAteer, the head of the Chinese Works of Art department at Sotheby’s, told CNN.

Believing he may have came across something special, the man took the bowl to Sotheby’s for evaluation.

“We instinctively had a very, very good feeling about it,” McAteer told CNN.

Their instincts proved correct. The bowl is an “exceptionally rare” piece from the 15th century Chinese Yongle period. It’s one of six known companion bowls, and most of the others are in national museums around the world, according to Sotheby’s.

The bowl could be worth up to $500,000.

It’s scheduled to be offered in a Sotheby’s auction in New York on March 17.

This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 7:52 PM.