From flea-market vase to $2,840 Han Dynasty jar.

The vase was sitting on a folding table next to a stack of paperback thrillers. No tag, no provenance, no story — just a quiet green-glazed jar with a hairline of iridescence creeping across one shoulder. The seller wanted $40 and was willing to take $35.

Sarah Linden, a scout based outside Charleston, paid the $40. She told us later she had a feeling, but she also had her phone — and that is most of the story.

Signal one: the glaze

Scout's Deep Scan flagged the iridescent silvering as consistent with long-buried Han Dynasty lead-glazed earthenware. The pattern of decay — patchy, directional, concentrated near the rim — is hard to fake and harder to fake convincingly across multiple angles.

Signal two: the form

The proportions matched a well-documented Hu jar typology from the Eastern Han period. Scout pulled three reference pieces from museum and auction archives, all with the same shoulder slope, the same foot ring, the same compressed neck.

"I would never have paid $200 for this without the app. But once I saw three matching pieces side by side, the $40 felt like a steal."

Signal three: the comps

Fair Market Analysis returned a value range of $2,400–$3,200 with a confidence band Scout rated as medium-high. The comps were drawn from three Heritage auctions and one 1stDibs listing within the last eighteen months. Demand was warm. Estimated days-to-sell: under thirty.

Sarah listed the jar that night with Scout's generated report attached. It sold to a private collector in Singapore for $2,840 the following Tuesday.

What to take away

• Quiet glazes and unfussy forms are often the most overlooked.
• Three matching reference pieces is a stronger signal than one perfect match.
• A confident value range — with sources — closes a sale faster than a single price tag.

Sarah is back at the market this Sunday. So is Scout.