Tea service set sells for record price at auction
An extremely rare porcelain tea set fetched a sum of over £500,000 at Bonhams auction in London. The "Half-Figure Service", made in around 1723, was hailed as the very best Meissen porcelain and was eventually snapped up for £541,250, believed to be a world record for a tea service. Experts claim that the set was so valuable because it was intended only for display purposes and was probably never used for tea drinking since it was made. Meissen's extremely detailed and intricate decorations were the dominant style of European porcelain among royals and nobility in the 18th century. The tea set, featuring Oriental-style art, was part of a lot of porcelain collection that raised more than £1 million in total.