Antiques Roadshow Makes $1.5M Find

Chinese rhino cups break show's record
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2011 4:15 AM CDT
Updated Jul 30, 2011 7:00 PM CDT
Antiques Roadshow Makes $1.5M Find
Asian art expert and veteran "Antiques Roadshow." appraiser Lark Mason poses with a collection of Chinese rhino horn cups in Tulsa, Okla.   (AP Photo/WGBH)

An Oklahoma man has shattered Antiques Roadshow records with a set of Chinese teacups carved from rhinoceros horn. The show's experts appraised the cups, believed to be from the late 17th or early 18th century, at between $1 million and $1.5 million, making them the most valuable antiques uncovered in the television program's 16-year history.

The show's producers say the buyer—who chose to remain anonymous because he lives in a small town and is worried about security—bought the cups cheaply in the '70s and had no idea of their true worth, reports the New York Post. After the appraisal the man quipped: "I guess I won't have to rely on Social Security anymore." (More antique stories.)

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