Kaskara?? Expensive to say the least.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
This auction house as with others has very limited expertise in many areas so it is no surprise that the estimate was 'somewhat inaccurate', certainly not a place I would ever choose to use. Having said that this particular piece has surprised all here so the auction house is somewhat vindicated in this instance.
Regards,
Norman.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
It would appear the hammer price is now £54,000, still expensive though. Maybe it will get cheaper still.
Regards,
Norman.

[mariusgmioc]

This isn't the first, and definitely won't be the last piece that sells waaay above its estimated money value.

It was so much speculated about its possible mysterious provenance but in the end the explanation for its whooping price can be much simpler and mundane.

There are many hobbyists and collectors that measure their fortunes not in millions, not in tens of millions and not even in hundreds of millions but in billions and even tens and hundreds of billions. For such persons the monetary price of an item has no significance whatsoever since if they want something they can pay no matter what in order to get it, while their overall fortune is not affected at all. It would be like me wanting badly to get an item estimated at 1 cent and ending up paying 5 or 10 dollars.

And this may be the case here.

Of course this is also a speculation like all the others.

[Kmaddock]

I agree Marius
But In an auction there must be at least 2 people who see the value.
I am sure the seller and auction house are delighted.
Regards
Ken

[ariel]

An extremely wealthy buyer is but one possibility (see#3).
But we still do not know the meaning of the inscription. Perhaps, just perhaps, it may show some exceptional provenance ( killing Chinese Gordon??)

[Tim Simmons]

No that will be a spear in the next auction.

[JoeCanada42]

I though this was a similar situation,
sold January 1rst for 6000 US on eBay...