Outrageous, or fair value?

I was astounded to read of the prices realized by a collection of Chinese antique snuff bottles. The Daily Mail reports:

A tiny snuff bottle [pictured below, left] measuring just 1.6 inches high has sold today for nearly a million pounds - smashing all previous records.

The beautiful enamel bottle made for China's Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century was part of a collection put together by George and Mary Bloch.

It was hoped it might sell for £250,000 but furious bidding saw the price rise beyond anyone's expectations.

. . .

The price paid by an anonymous collector was 9,280,000 Hong Kong dollars - £821,383 [about US $1.191 million].

The sale was Bonhams' first ever Golden Gavel Auction, with every item sold.

The Bloch's entire collection is being auctioned over several sales and the first, of 140 bottles, made £5.8 million [just under US $8.4 million] today. The pre-sale estimate was £1.8 million [about US $2.6 million].

The couple purchased the first of the decorative Chinese bottles in the 1980s and by the time George Bloch died last year they had more than 1,700.

Colin Sheaf, an auctioneer from Bonhams who sold the bottles at the Hong Kong auction, said the sale had succeeded in bringing in new Chinese collectors.

He said: 'This is the finest auction of Chinese art which Bonhams has held in Asia.

'The record prices proved that the market for Chinese art remains very strong for the most important pieces

'This is the world's largest and finest collection of snuff bottles and we aim to sell it over numerous sales over five years.

. . .

The bottles, which range between one and four inches high and date mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries, come with small spoons.

They are hugely collectable because craftsmen of all techniques turned their hands to making them.

Jade, glass, ivory, lacquer, porcelain, bronze, silver and stone were all materials used to create the bottles.

Snuff became popular in China during the early 17th century and because of the warm climate it was kept in air tight bottles - unlike in Britain where boxes were suitable.

It was during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) when the snuff bottle production boomed.

There were masses of bad quality ones made, but also many of the finest craftsmen produced exceptional examples. And it was these that the Blochs collected.

Other record prices at the sale included an inscribed nephrite pebble-material bottle which went for a world record price for any jade snuff bottle of over £500,000 [about US $723,000].

An Imperial 'bird on branch' bottle [pictured above, right] went for over £460,000 [about US $665,000] - a world record for an enamelled glass snuff bottle.

There's more at the link, including more and larger photographs.

I'm afraid I simply can't understand these sorts of valuations. Oh, sure, the items are rare, and they're desirable to collectors, but these sums are so vast they can't have anything to do with the intrinsic or artistic value of the bottles. I think it's more a case of people looking for a 'safe haven' investment, something tangible that won't lose value. Given that the value of anything is what someone's prepared to pay for it, I suspect their investment in these bottles might prove unwise if the economy goes to hell in a handbasket. It's not as if they're made of gold, which has a monetary value and can buy other things . . . or am I wrong? What say you, readers?

Peter