A tiny vase bought for just £2.50 in a charity shop could fetch a whopping £10,000 at auction.

Experts at the Canterbury Auction Galleries have deemed it to be a rare Japanese work by a samurai.

The small vase was snapped up by a couple who had been wandering around the unnamed store.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered etched marks on the base but had no idea of its value.

After contacting the auction experts, the 10cm vase was found to be a work of Namikawa Yasuyuki, one of Japan’s most famous artists from the Meiji Period.

A larger version by the same artist was sold by the Canterbury auctioneers for £29,000 in April 2019.

One of the couple, who have not been named, said: “My partner and I wandered into the charity shop to have a look around – I always head for the books and he heads off to look for art and vintage stuff.

“He’s not an expert but he does have great taste and an instinct for the ‘real thing’.

“He came over and showed me the vase and I said something a bit dismissive like ‘very pretty’. ‘No, look at the base!’ he said, and showed me the etched marks.”

The couple, who have been together for some eight years and live in Epsom, had no idea if it was genuine or a copy, nor any idea of its value.

But after some googling and contacting the Canterbury Auction Galleries, the couple’s find was confirmed as being by Yasuyuki.

Specialist Cliona Kilroy, co-director of the auction house, said the level of detail by this particular artist was astonishing.

“The beautiful work by Yasuyuki’s Kyoto studio is held in several collections and is highly sought-after.

“He and Namikawa Sōsuke were the most famous cloisonné artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries – the ‘Golden Age’ of enamelling in Japan.

“The exceptionally fine work and naturalistic depiction of cockerels and hens on a black background, with birds in flight overhead, was something of a trademark of his.”

Cloisonné is an intricate technique that involves soldering delicate, shaped metal filaments or wire to a metal surface to create an enclosed outline.

Tiny amounts of coloured enamel paste are then applied to fill in the spaces and the entire piece is then fired, ground smooth, and polished.

Japanese cloisonné is distinctive for its highly polished, glass-like surface.

Namikawa Yasuyuki was born in 1845 and trained as an adopted child in Kyoto to become a samurai, becoming the personal attendant of prince-abbot Kuni Asahiko.

After the prince lost power he returned to Kyoto and retrained as a cloisonné artist.

In 1876 he opened his own studio, pushing the boundaries of what was possible using new and experimental technology, enamels and techniques.

His studio’s work was soon being exhibited around the world and in 1896 Namikawa was granted the title of Imperial (Household) Artist by the Emperor Meiji. He died at 82 in 1927.

The vase comes up for auction online on July 30 with an estimate of £7,000 to 9,000.

Depending on the final hammer price, the couple plan a holiday – and a generous donation to the charity that ran the shop in Surrey.