Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010
Tripping and Falling ... into Chinese Vases
A case of clumsiness led to $800,000 in damage in 2006 when a man tripped over his shoelace at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum in the U.K. and proceeded to fall down a central staircase, colliding with three 300-year-old Chinese vases and shattering them. The large decorative vases dated back to the Qing dynasty in the 17th century and were some of the museum's most valuable pieces. The man was unharmed, but it took six months for museum officials to restore the vases, which are now back on display — this time in a specially designed case.