An old teapot and plate discovered in a Devon kitchen have sold for nearly £40,000 at auction.
The Sèvres plate and teapot found by Sam Tuke, of Bonhams' Exeter office sold for a total of £38,125 in the European Ceramics sale in London today, 18th June.
Mr Tuke said: "I was doing a house call just before Christmas as the client was moving home and wanted a collection of Chinese blue and white porcelain valued. I ended up doing a total contents valuation and as I was working my way through the house spotted something that looked interesting on the pine dresser in the kitchen.
"It turned out that I'd found a rather special Sèvres tea pot with a very unusual colour. On looking around some more I also found a Sèvres plate that was shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
" The client had inherited the teapot and plate but had no idea that either of them might be valuable. She just thought them rather pretty, which they certainly are. At our sale today the teapot sold for £32,500 and the plate for £5,625."
Most of these discovered pieces turn out to late 19th century copies with a market value of around £500. But this teapot is a very unusual colour and although the maker's mark is rather smudged it has been confirmed as a piece of Sevres from around 1765, the high Rococo period.
