A Chinese vase valued between 500 and 800 Swiss francs (or $704 to $1,126) has sold for a record five million Swiss francs ($7.04 million), a Geneva auction house said.
According to the catalogue, the vase, which is 23in tall and depicts three blue dragons on a yellow background, is from the 20th century but it bears an unverified mark from the 18th century Qianlong era.
There was a bidding battle at the auction on Thursday by two people who believed the vase was in fact from the 18th century.
The auctioneer at the Geneve-Encheres auction house said the age of the vase was difficult to evaluate accurately and that they tended to be conservative in their estimates.
"This is the hammer price so with the commission added it is a total of 6.08 million Swiss francs ($8.56m)," auctioneer Olivier Fichot told AFP.