A BROKEN porcelain figure which was buried in a garden for 50 years is tipped to sell for a massive £5,000.
The 7.5-inch ornament of two dancers was found in two pieces when it was dug up by the owner of a house in Colchester, Essex.
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The man, who doesn’t want to be named, put it in his garden shed and thought nothing of it.
His grandson, an avid fan of antique TV shows like Flog It, spotted the broken ornament during a recent visit and saw a mark on the base identifying it as made by famed Clarice Cliff.
The late English sculptor’s colourful Art Deco-style pottery is sought-after by collectors worldwide.
The man’s grandson paid to have the piece professionally repaired.
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The antique, called ‘Age of Jazz’, shows a man in a tuxedo interlocked with a woman in an eye-catching orange dress.
Experts believe it was made by Cliff in the 1930s and buried sometime in the 1970s.
The item is now coming up for sale at auctioneers Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury, Wilts.
The vendor said: “I watch a lot of antiques shows like Flog It, and the name Clarice Cliff rang a bell.
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“I did some searching online and realised how valuable it could be when finding similar items auctioned at major auction houses in the past.
“When I got the estimate I was still very pleasantly surprised!”
A Woolley & Wallis spokesperson said: “The ornament was initially during some garden maintenance work.
“The vendor then found it lying in the shed still with mud on it.
“It was in two pieces, broken across the waist, with a chip to the base.
“These figures are rare – we’ve only sold a handful at auction over the last 20 years.
“And it’s unusual for an object of this type to end up in the ground.
“People tend to use broken plates as drainage for garden pots so digging up sherds in old gardens is fairly common.
“But ornaments tend to get repaired rather than thrown out.
“The original figures were factory made, but cut out of a piece of clay rather than cast-moulded.
“They were made circa 1930 and are marked on the bottom, which is how the owner identified it as Clarice and carried out the research rather than ditching it!”
The record price for a Cliff ornament at auction is a charger called ‘May Avenue’ inspired by a Modigliani painting which fetched £39,950 in London in 2003.
The sale is set to take place on Wednesday.
Others hoping to spot a surprise treasure in their house are best to look in the attic, according to experts.
Charlie Ross who regularly appears on Bargain Hunt and Flog It!, said vinyls, Star Wars memorabilia, fountain pens and old phones are often big money makers.
“You may need to seek some advice. While some are worth hundreds, others are worth nothing,” he said.
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It’s believed the average UK attic hides valuables totalling a staggering £1,922.
In total, around £33billion worth of “junk” lurks in our cupboards and drawers.
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