AUCTIONEERS are celebrating ‘beating the big boys at their own game’.

The 18th century Chinese vase sold by Nantwich auctioneers Peter Wilson for £350,000 had been offered by one of the London international auctioneers but had failed to sell.

“It’s good to have beaten the big boys at their own game,” said Peter Wilson principal Robert Stones.

“The vase had been reserved previously at £300,000. We achieved a price well in excess of the point at which the bidding faltered in the London auction.

“Taking the sale represented one of the most exciting moments of my 40-year auctioneering career, leaving me with enormous satisfaction that the out-of-London auctioneer can compete with the bigger firms if they focus their minds on marketing.

“The sale room had an electric atmosphere on the morning of the auction - a true auctioneering adrenalin rush. Well done to my team at my Market Street auction rooms. Everyone played their part.”

Four telephone bidders from mainland China and London competed for ownership of the 46.5cm-tall Doucai ‘Lotus and Bats’ vase, which dated from the Qianlong period, 1736 to 1795.

The underbidder was a woman sitting in the Nantwich sale room who had flown from China to attend. It was purchased by a buyer on the telephone after a bidding battle lasting almost nine minutes. The price is a house record for the Cheshire sale room.

Elsewhere in the Asian art section, two pairs of Chinese bowls, one with Daoguang marks and period, the other with Qianlong marks and period each sold for £4,600, while a third, also with Daoguang seal marks and period, realised £3,300.

Northern art saw the other top prices. Leading the section were two oils on board by Wigan-born artist Theodore Major (1908-1999), his ‘Men and Sky’ and ‘Figures with factories beyond’, each selling for £20,000.

A Lowryesque oil on board by his friend Arthur Delaney (1927-1987) titled ‘The Last of the Garrison’, sold for £7,000, while works by Geoffrey Key (b. (1941) ‘Evening Runner’, an oil on canvas signed and dated '11, and ‘Auguste - Study I’, signed and dated 11.7.01 in mixed media, sold for £6,200 and £6,100 respectively.