London - (Reuters) - Put up for a reserve of £200 after being cataloged by a provoncial auction house as "a 19th-century claret jug adorned by mythological animals, birds, and vegetal motifs, and set with European silver gilt and enamel mounts, possibly of Austro-Hungarian origin", the 11th-century Fatamid rock crystal intaglio ewer sold in Somerset for 220,000 pounds- likely one of the biggest bargains in auction history.
Experts believe it is a rock crystal ewer from the Fatimid dynasty which ruled parts of northern Africa and the Middle East in the 10th-12th centuries. Only five examples were previously known to have existed.
The delicate ewer was one of the rarest treasures of medieval Egypt with a market value close to ten million dollars.
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