A chest bought for £100 and used as a TV stand and drinks cabinet has sold for $9.5 million — after it was revealed to be a long-lost Japanese antique.

The 370-year-old cedar wood and gold lacquered box was spotted by an auctioneer when the daughter of the late owner lifted up the TV and offered him a sherry from “Daddy’s bar”.

It was made in 1640 and had belonged to France’s chief minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin, then British poet William Beckford and several top collectors including Welsh colliery owner Sir Clifford Cory.

It disappeared off the radar after Cory died in 1941 and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum had been searching for it ever since.

The unnamed owner — an engineer living in London’s South Kensington — bought the 5ft chest in 1970 from a Polish doctor.

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