Pair of Chinese vases to be sold 80 years after being bought

The vases, expected to fetch up to £1,000, are being sold by Banbury auctioneers Holloways on April 15.

They were bought in 1947 by Leonard Barker at a country house auction in Oxford, and have remained in the family ever since.

Eileen Hancock, Mr Barker’s daughter, said: “I’m not sure why he bought them.

“He wasn’t a collector or dealer, and I think he just liked them.

“I don’t know what he paid for them but, knowing my dad, he would have got them for a good price.”

Ms Hancock, 92, kept the vases in her Chipping Norton home after her mother Edith passed away in 1994.

The vases, believed to date from around 1900, stand almost half a metre tall.

She said: “I don’t know how much longer I’ve got left and I don’t want them to get chucked away or lost.

“I would prefer them to go to someone who can cherish them as I have done.”

Jasper Marsh, director at Holloways, said: “My job is all about memories – making new ones and remembering old ones.

“That wonderful 1940s photo of Eileen’s family with her brother Ronnie cradling the vase brings it to life like nothing else.

“We are delighted and proud to be selling the vases and sending them on their next chapter.”