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Today at Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood's saleroom, Exeter, Devon, UK, a pair of Chinese plates (Lot 519) were sold that were almost identical to the plate that I referred to in my posts of May 29 and June 2.

The catalogue description was ''A pair of Chinese plates each enamelled in the famille rose palette with the 18 Lohan beneath a a four clawed dragon within clouds, the border with song birds amongst prunus, peony and chrysanthemum, 26cm diameter, six character mark for Xuantong (1908-1912) and of the period. Estimate: £300-500.''

The plates were of a slightly later period than mine and the colours were different in places, but they could have been painted by the same artist. I have attached a catalogue photo.

The hammer price was £1500 (paid by an internet bidder). With premium and taxes, this grosses up to £1914. An estimate for a single plate would be £638 ($984) on the basis that a pair is worth about 3x the value of a single item.

All this means that I must congratulate Bill H for his spot-on identification and a pretty good estimate of value. I gave the plate to my daughter, so I hope that she appreciates it!

David, thanks for the follow-up. The Xuantong period mark is much rarer than Guangxu, which would account for differences in value. Gosh, if I could only get as good at picking lotto numbers. :)

Cheers,

Bill

Apologies. My earlier posts were dated May 26 and 27, and not as previously stated.

After my last message, I wrote to the auctioneer and received the following response:

''Dear Mr Hewick,

Many thanks for your email - ours were Guangxu also! It was announced early on in the view and to prospective bidders - must get those new glasses!

I would suggest that the plates are by the same artist as the quality looks similar for all.

Not aware of seeing the subject before but I'd have thought it appears from time to time. Our pair fetched £1,500 + premium which seems a goodly sum. The internet buyer was Chinese.

Regards,

Andrew Thomas''

On the subject of estimating value, since the introduction of a (continually increasing) buyer's premium, there is a now a huge difference between buying and selling at auction. At the auction room mentioned there is a 19% buyer's premium plus 3% if you bid online. This 22% is further increased to 26.4% by applying 20% UK Value Added Tax, VAT (which is also steadily increasing with time). If the buyer then sold at the same auction and achieved the same £1500 hammer price he would have been deducted 21.6% (18%+VAT) and been left with £1176 (versus his buying price of £1914). This (insurance versus probate?) is a huge range in value.

I would add that the above calculations apply to most UK buyers/sellers. The application of VAT may vary for non UK people. But the general principle is similar.

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