London - (Trash-in-the-Attic Mess): Auctioneers described today's news a tragedy as experts branded the rare 18th century artefuct a load of old crock.
The vase had smashed auction records reaching £53,105,000 after being talked up as Qianlong dynasty masterpiece.
But a raid on an East London pottery earlier this morning uncovered 'hundreds' of lookalikes - all fresh from the firing kiln!
Described in the auction catalogue as 'of yang cai decoration and reticulated double walled construction' the vase actually has images of 'young Kai (Rooney) playing with an articulated truck' embossed all over it.
The anonymous purchasers - believed to be a topnotch Chinese bank - are staying inscrewtably silent on the subject amid frantic background searches to find the 'expert' who sold them such trashy crap.
