NY garage $3-bowl sells for $2.2m at auction 紐約舊貨攤3美元的碗在拍賣會以220萬美元賣出

NY garage $3-bowl sells for $2.2m at auction 
紐約舊貨攤3美元的碗在拍賣會以220萬美元賣出
2013-04-15◎管淑平

A rare Chinese bowl bought for about $3 from a yard sale in the U.S. sold for $2.2 million at an auction in New York on Tuesday.
一個在美國一場舊貨拍賣活動上以約3美元價格買入的稀有中國碗，週二在紐約一場拍賣會上以220萬美元賣出。

The Ding bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty was bought for $3 in 2007.
這個出自北宋朝的定窯碗在2007年被以3美元買下。

The bowl "was bought for a few dollars from a tag sale near the consignor’s home in the summer of 2007," said Cecilia Leung of Sotheby’s. "At the time, the purchaser had no idea that they had happened upon a 1,000-year-old treasure."
這個碗「是2007年夏天在委託人住家附近的一場舊貨拍賣活動上花幾美元買的」，蘇富比公司的塞希莉亞．梁說。「當時，買家不知道他們撿到了一個千年寶物。」

The previous owner displayed the bowl in their living room for several years before they became curious about its origins and had it assessed. Sotheby’s pre-sale estimates valued the bowl, which measures just five inches in diameter, at between $200,000 to $300,000.
這名前擁有者把這個碗放在他們家客廳好幾年後，對它的來歷產生好奇，就把它送交鑑定。蘇富比在拍賣前預估這個直徑只有5英寸的碗，價值約20萬到30萬美元之間。

The bowl sparked a sales battle before being snapped up by London dealer Guiseppe Eskenazi.
這個碗引起競標，最後由倫敦商人吉瑟比．艾斯肯納齊搶下。

The only other known bowl of the same size, form and almost identical decoration has been in the collection of the British Museum in London for over 60 years, according to Sotheby’s.
根據蘇富比說法，目前所知唯一另一個同尺寸、形式和裝飾幾乎一模一樣的碗，已由位於倫敦的大英博物館收藏60多年。

新聞辭典：

yard sale, garage sale, tag sale：名詞，私人舉辦的不定期、非正式商業拍賣二手物品活動。

snap up：動詞，搶購、搶得。例句：I snapped up some great deals at the yard sale.（我在這場舊貨拍賣活動上搶到一些好康。）

happen upon（+something, someone）：動詞，意外地發現、遇到。例句：We happened upon the boy wandering in a street at night.（我們意外遇到這個半夜在街頭遊蕩的男孩。）