So What's Wrong with Being an Umbrella Stand? Who Cares if it Is Worth a Fortune!

Well, the British papers are all full of how an elderly couple had been sitting on a extremely valuable, 270-year-old Chinese vase made during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and . . . shame of shame . . . had been using it to store old umbrellas in a back room! For those who treasure umbrellas, what better way to store them than in a vase worth £500,000. And, to add to the criticism of umbrella stands, the stories suggest that the vase could have been worth twice as much if not damaged--presumably by the lowly umbrellas placed in said vase.

And, in a case of life imitating art, the Daily Mail says "The find is identical to a plot from the TV series Lovejoy, in which the hero spotted a similarly valuable Chinese vase being used by an old lady as an umbrella stand." In other words, while there appears to be a strong cultural taboo against the used of valuable Chinese vases as umbrella stands, people are resisting the cultural pressures--at least until they become old and someone mucks around in their houses.