CHINESE JADE FIGURES PACKED IN HALLWAY CUPBOARD SELLS FOR £1.5 MILLION

A MENAGERIE OF TINY ANIMAL ORNAMENTS KEPT IN A CARDBOARD BOX IN A HALL CUPBOARD FOR YEARS CREATED A BIDDING FRENZY WHEN THEY WENT FOR AUCTION AND SOLD FOR A STAGGERING £1.5 MILLION. AND A SMALL WOODEN CARVING STORED IN THE SAME BOX WENT FOR £380,000 AS IT WAS PROVED TO ONCE BELONG TO CHINESE EMPEROR QIANLONG 240 YEARS AGO. IN ALL THE SALE OF MORE THAN 1,500 ITEMS FROM THE HOME OF ANTIQUE ENTHUSIASTS TIM AND FRAN LEWIS FETCHED MORE THAN £4 MILLION. BUT IT WAS THEIR COLLECTION OF ABOUT 50 PIECES OF JADE AMASSED OVER DECADES AND STORED IN TWO BOXES IN A HALLWAY CUPBOARD FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS THAT SET THE AUCTION ALIGHT. FRAN LEWIS RECENTLY EMIGRATED FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND EARLIER THIS YEAR AND SHE INSTRUCTED THAT A WHOLE HOST OF ANTIQUES TO BE SOLD OFF. THE JADE ITEMS WERE UNEARTHED BY THEIR HOUSEKEEPER WHO SHOWED THEM TO THE AUCTIONEER DURING A VALUATION VISIT AT THE PROPERTY IN DORSET. THEY WERE FOUND TO DATE BACK BETWEEN 250 AND 800 YEARS AND WERE FROM IMPERIAL CHINA. AS A RESULT THE COUNTRY AUCTIONEERS WERE BESIEGED BY MILLIONAIRE BIDDERS FROM THE FAR EAST, BOTH OVER THE PHONE AND IN THE ROOM. THE ESTIMATE FOR THE OBJECTS VARIED BETWEEN £500 TO £2,000 BUT THE FIERCE COMPETITION FOR THEN SAW THE PRICES ROCKET TO FIVE AND SIX FIGURE SUMS. A THREE-INCH YELLOW JADE LION DATING BACK TO THE 16th CENTURY MING DYNASTY SOLD FOR £216,000, MORE THAN 100 TIMES ITS ESTIMATE OF £2,000. AND A THREE-INCH HORSE VALUED AT £500 MADE £132,000, 264 TIMES ITS ESTIMATE, AND A BLACK JADE ELEPHANT FROM THE EARLY MING PERIOD FETCHED £72,000. IN ALL, THE COMBINED VALUE OF HIDDEN TREASURES SOLD FOR MORE THAN £4 MILLION AT THE AUCTION OF DUKES OF DORCHESTER, WITH THE JADE SELLING FOR £1.5 MILLION. AUCTIONEER GUY SCHWINGE SAID: 'THE HOUSE WAS JUST AN ALADDIN'S CAVE OF ANTIQUES, ART WORK AND OTHER COLLECTIBLE ITEMS. THERE WERE IMPRESSIVE PAINTINGS ALL AROUND THE PROPERTY INCLUDING AN OIL PAINTING ABOVE THE FIREPLACE THAT WAS THE WORK OF RENAISSANCE ARTIST ABEL GRIMMER.'FRAN LEWIS IS THE DAUGHTER OF HAROLD SCANLON FOLEY, A MEMBER OF THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL FOLEY FAMILY WHO RAN THE POWELL RIVER COMPANY AND BUILT 25,000 MILES OF RAILROADS ACROSS AMERICA AND CANADA. THE LEWISES EMIGRATED TO THE UK IN THE 80s AND LIVED AT THE GRADE II LISTED 17th CENTURY MELPLASH COURT, NEAR BRIDPORT.