Sieglin auction house in Gundelfingen offered for sale this 7 inch high 16thc Chinese gold inlaid bronze censor for sale, with an auction estimate of £1000.
The bronze censer smashed through that estimate to sell to online Chinese mainland buyers for €25,000.
These bronze form censers are based upon pottery pieces from the 9th c BC, a period in Chinese history known as the Zhou Dynasty.
The original pottery vessels were intended for domestic use, and subsequently became funerary utensils containing offerings and placed in ancestral tombs.
The bronze censer had been in a local collection for a number of years, it was purchased 40 years ago from a German antique dealer for 6400 Marks.
