YARD SALE TREASURE

There still are treasures to be found. A decorated yellow Chinese porcelain vase bought at a Florida yard sale years ago looked like a good copy of an 18th-century piece. It was put into a Brunk auction (Asheville, N.C.) as a modern copy, but the surprising final price was $1,236,250. At least two bidders thought it was real. Another Chinese jar decorated with dragons, thought to be a copy of a 16th-century piece, sold for $69,000 at the same auction.

AUCTION PROBLEMS WITH ANCIENT CHINESE ART

A pair of ancient Chinese bronzes sold two weeks ago at a Paris auction for $40 million. The buyer was Chinese. Why should that worry the average American collector? Because the buyer has refused to pay. A French court ruling earlier in February let the auction go forward in spite of objections by a group that wants the bronzes given back to China as "national treasures." The reneged purchase may be a protest by this or another group. The botched sale means there may be more problems with sales of historic Chinese art. No one wants a piece with a clouded ownership. And the Chinese government has already tightened customs rules, making business more difficult for foreign auctions. Dealers and collectors have long thought there are warehouses in China filled with old but not fabulous Chinese ceramics, textiles, netsukes, prints, etc. gathered up during the Communist Revolution. What will happen when these collectibles hit the market?