A vase valued at just £375 broke an auction house record when it sold for a staggering £228,000 at the Welsh auction house Byrne's. The anonymous consignor said the tiny vase had been in her family for generations, and nobody thought it was of any value. But a London dealer buying on behalf of a collector helped bid up the lot which emerged as a rare 18th century Chinese Imperial gilt bronze and cloisonné vase, crafted in the Forbidden City in the style of Ming, but more than a century after the dynasty ended.