What's It Worth?

[poliphilo]

One of the fun things about auctions is you can't predict the outcome. The tortoiseshell tea caddy is a pretty thing (if you overlook the slaughter of the animal that provided the raw material) but in a very poor state of repair. The auction house tagged it with a low guide price- which seemed entirely reasonable- but it ended up making over ten times as much. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps the people who fought over it had recognised it as the work of a prestigious maker, perhaps they were two collectors with gaps in their collections, perhaps they just liked the look of it. We are unlikely to ever find out.