When someone at an auction view day produces a camera and starts taking pictures of a plate that is listed in the catalogue with a pre-sale estimate of just forty quid, then you might think that something unusual is about to happen. As Journal antiques columnist Craig Bewick reports, it was!

Exception to the rule . . . this badly damaged Sevres plate sparked a bidding frenzy

Collectors want things to be in the very best possible original condition – and they are prepared to pay serious cash to acquire it. Damage, on the other hand, can result in a collapse in the value of an otherwise interesting piece.

That is particularly so in the fields of pottery and porcelain. A chip will chop the price that someone is prepared to pay for your piece and a serious break can wipe you out pretty completely.

There are, though, exceptions . . .

So what were we to make of the Sevres plate that arrived in the auction rooms at Brigg amid a mass of stuff from a house clearance in North East Lincolnshire?

The plate dated from the early 19th century and was decorated with a scene in Catalonia depicting figures in a landscape near the tomb of Scipiomis. In terms of Sevres quality, it was not the best period but it was an uncommon design.

Now the bad news. At some point in its history, the plate had suffered a catastrophic accident. It had been smashed into four pieces and just glued back together again.

Ordinarily, you would have to say that was the end of it but, as I mentioned, there are exceptions and collectors will sometimes go for things, despite damage, simply because of their rarity. Would they in this case? Our view was that they would not. The plate got a pre-sale estimate of £40 to £60.

By the time that auction day arrived, we had taken enquiries from all over the country; got a clutch of telephone lines booked by people who wished to bid live, plus a hatful of commission bids . . . not to mention people photographing the thing – and collectors in the room – and it was pretty clear that our view was overly gloomy!

The bidding silenced the room. The hammer went down not at the expected £40 but at £1,900, the plate acquired by a private collector based in the south of England.

What I assume will happen now is the plate will be sent to a specialist for professional restoration. It is an expensive process – several hundred pounds – but the result will be that the plate will be almost as good as new. For sure the fact that it was once smashed into four pieces will not be detectable to the eye.

Incidentally, the house that the Sevres plate came from also yielded a late Victorian French cello that had lain forgotten in the attic for decades. That made £2,600, so they had quite a good day.

Of course, the biggest shock of the lot in terms of prices paid for broken pots remains the money paid for two Royal Worcester vases bequeathed to a Cottingham lady and auctioned at Brigg in 2005.

Made in 1903 and decorated by the famous Harry Davis with scenes of polar bears in the Arctic, the vases were extremely rare but both had been broken, indeed one had been so badly smashed that it was decided not to sell them as a pair because of the depressing impact that it was thought likely to have on potential bidders.

Examples of the polar bear vase in perfect condition had previously sold at auction for up to £8,000. Because of the damage, it was thought the one to be sold at Brigg might make £2,000 to £3,000. It actually went for £13,450, a world record price that astonished absolutely everyone.

The successful Australian buyer also later acquired the second vase, the really smashed one, for £4,250.

Interesting, but you have to say that these results are exceptional. Something has to be very special . . . and very rare . . . for collectors to have a desire to own even a damaged example. It really is better to take good care of the Sevres and the Worcester!

Of course, in the cases of both the plate and the pair of vases, it is impossible not to speculate about the really big question: Just how much would these things have made had they been in mint condition?

Sends a shiver down the spine, does it not?