A 'Jewish' Ming Vase: Rare discovery

Just like "Antiques Roadshow."

A retired Cadbury's factory worker walked into an auction house with a perfect 600-year-old Ming vase sitting in a cardboard box.

The auction house called it a "spectacular find."

"When my colleague initially showed me what had arrived in a cardboard box I could not believe my eyes," Guy Schwinge of Duke's told the Guardian. "The vase is in perfect condition, and it is amazing to think that it has survived unscathed for almost six hundred years."

BBC said that the 11.5" tall vase is the largest found of a rare group of early Ming "moonflasks" produced between 1403-1424.

Athough the story says it is influenced by Islamic design, the presence of a Magen David - Jewish star - is interesting. And reminds us that the Jewish community of Kaifeng was active at that time in history. A connection? Tracing the Tribe doesn't know, but it is a romantic thought.

To be auctioned in May, it should bring at least $1.6 milion dollars.

It would like very nice on a Shabbat dinner table!