Judge rules vase buyer misled

Christie’s International misled Canadian billionaire Ken Thomson’s daughter about the origins of two vases she bought for about $3.6 million, a London judge ruled.

Taylor Thomson, 41, bought two urns adorned with gilded lions from Christie’s in 1994. Thomson sued to get her money back after metallurgists concluded they are probably 19th century copies.

This week’s ruling at the High Court by Justice Raymond Jack may force auction houses to spend more money researching objects they sell. Christie’s said it might appeal.

“Christie’s gave what was in the circumstances an incomplete picture and Ms. Thomson was entitled to a fuller one,” Jack wrote in the ruling. “She should have been told that the catalog inflated what could properly be said about the urns and was likely to give a misleading impression about Christie’s knowledge and the sureness of their judgment.”