A RARE Chinese vase bought at a car boot sale in the New Forest for £10 has fetched more than £60,000 at auction.

The enamel “two quails” vase was thought to have been made at Beijing’s Imperial Palace two centuries ago.

The seller, who wishes to remain anonymous, picked up the 12cm high piece at a car boot near Lymington.

Woolley & Wallis Auctioneers in Salisbury, where it sold, said “the owner only realised its true value after he put it on eBay”. He was astonished when the bidding rocketed to more than £10,000.

He withdrew the pear-shaped vase, which has a hexagonal base with signs of restoration, from sale and sought advice from the auctioneers, who valued it at between £20,000 and £30,000.

It ended up selling for £61,000 at auction on Tuesday, including the buyer’s premium.

John Axford, Asian art expert for Woolley & Wallis, said the vase had turned out to be an “excellent investment” for the owner.

“He realised it was worth checking what he had. This shows that it is important for members of the public to be able to bring items to specialist auctioneers for information and appraisal.”

He added: “I have confirmed the rarity of the vase bore the four-character Qianlong mark from the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty so would have been made by Imperial command in the palace workshop between 1736 and 1795.”

The yellow vase bears a quail and millet design similar to a piece in the British Museum. The quail and millet are used in Chinese as a pun for “sui sui ping an” which translates as “everlasting peace year after year”.