Chinese buyers have been showing up at regional auction houses around the world bidding up vases in remote locations. Sotheby’s in Ireland didn’t need to be told twice that there was an opportunity in this frenzy, according to the Irish Times:

SOTHEBY’S has announced that it is holding a Chinese valuation day in its Dublin office in June. […] Robert Bradlow, director and Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, who will be over from London said: “Essentially we are looking for Chinese-taste pieces that have recently become highly sought-after in the global market as the Chinese economy has been racing ahead. The Chinese are now keen to buy back many of the pieces that were sold/taken from China during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century that have found their way to Europe”. […]

The news follows this week’s sale at auction in Co Laois of a pair of Chinese vases, below, for €170,000 – over 14 times their estimate. The famille rose vases, dating from the reign of the Daoguang Emperor, had been estimated at €8,000-€12,000 but after intense bidding at Sheppard’s, in Durrow, Co Laois, went to a collector in China. The vases had been bought 10 years ago for just “a few hundred quid” in a Dublin antiques shop.

Sotheby’s to Hold Chinese Valuation Day (Irish Times)