IT SOUNDS like a sketch from the hit comedy TV show Only Fools and Horses.

A seemingly unremarkable pair of identical 18th century Chinese pottery parrots go to auction after spending decades in a South Hams attic.

The guide price is £800 to £1,200 – after all, both parrots have been damaged over the years.

The sale starts and telephone bids from around the world start coming in.

"Paris – £8,000; London – £10,000; Belgium – £50,000; Spain – £80,000..." it soared.

The 40cm parrots then finally sell to a Continental buyer for more than 140 times the guide price settling at a staggering £170,000, plus an 18 per cent buyers' premium.

But this isn't a TV sketch. The sale happened this week at Plymouth Auction Rooms in the Cattedown area of the city.

"It certainly came as a bit of shock," said the 52-year-old owner of the parrots, who wishes to remain anonymous.

"But a welcome one at that. I feel like I've won the lottery without buying a ticket."