They would not accept anything stamped with a customs seal marked "Republic of Kosovo".
The early 20th-century vase with a Qianlong seal mark was run up to a mind-boggling $18 million.
On Nov. 10 at Bonhams London, a Famille Rose vase with the Qianlong seal mark brought £9 million.
Also decorated in blue and white and inscribed with the Qianlong imperial seal mark, the pilgrim's gourd surpasses the vase in quality.
Immediately before that, another vase with the Qianlong seal mark expected by Sotheby's to realize between $6,000 and 8,000, plus the sale charge, ended up at $1.31 million.
A white porcelain vase interpreting fifth-century B.C. bronze models left some Western dealers skeptical about its supposed 18th-century period despite the Qianlong emperor's seal mark.
A blue and white vase seeking to revive the early Ming style was inscribed with the six-character seal mark of Qianlong (1735-1796), whindicatesathatthat it was commissioned for use in the emperor's palace.
Crucially for Far Eastern buyers, a six-character seal mark on the underside proves that the vase was not just made for the palace, but for the emperor's personal use.
Even the best pieces sometimes fail to excite a saleroom.A double-gourd vase with an imperial seal mark from the Qianlong period was one of the star lots of Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong on October 7th.
On March 22, a famille-rose vase with a red seal mark of the Qianlong emperor (1735-1796), recognized as later by Sotheby's experts who dated it to the early 20th century, made $18 million in New York.
