A PAIR of damaged Chinese Doucai porcelain cups which were almost thrown away by their owner have sold for £11,640 in an online auction in Westbury.

The cups, produced in the Imperial kiln during the reign of Emperor Youngzheng (1723-35), nearly tripled their expected sale price when they were sold at The Auction Hub on Thursday.

In a nail- biting flurry of final activity, bids came in from all around the world, including the UK, China, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Canada, when the lot closed at 6.45pm.

For many years the “rare and remarkable” 18th century cups had sat on the mantelpiece at the home of Lady Sally Peel, who said she had dusted them occasionally but had no idea of their value.

The Doucai cups belonged to Lady Peel, the widow of Sir John Peel, an eminent obstetrician who served as Surgeon-Gynaecologist to Queen Elizabeth II from 1961-1973 and died aged 101 in 2005.

Lady Peel said: “He lived an extraordinary life and lots of it was lived without me.”

She became Sir John’s third wife in 1993 after a lifelong friendship blossomed into a late life love story.

For as long as she had known him, the two small enameled porcelain Chinese cups had sat on the mantelpiece of their home.

“I never knew where they had come from - a grateful patient, most probably. I just dusted them occasionally and thought what a shame it was that one of them had a chip.”

When Lady Peel was packing up the home that she had shared with her husband, she almost threw the cups away but her sister persuaded her otherwise.

When Auction Hub founder James Harvey - whom she had hired on the recommendation of a friend to help her sell some of the contents of the house - saw them, he was quick to spot their potential value.

Produced during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, the cups were produced as an aesthetic homage to pieces originally produced during the reign of Chengua, the ninth Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1464-87).

What is particularly remarkable about these extraordinarily delicate, hand painted pieces - whose most likely purpose would have been as ceremonial wine cups - is the reign mark on their underside, a six-figure mark in Chinese script which bears accurate testimony to their date and origin.

“I do so wish he had known,” says Lady Peel of the unknown treasures on her late husband’s mantelpiece. “And I’m very glad I didn’t throw them away!”

Mr Harvey added: “I was absolutely delighted with the result, not least because it illustrates exactly why the Auction Hub was set up - giving clients a boutique service that combines all the bespoke experience of traditional auctioneers with the power and global reach of the internet.”