The Frenchman had acquired the 17th-century chest in 1970 for a bargain £100 and hadn't had a clue how much it was worth. At one point he even used the ultra-rare piece of furniture as a drinks cabinet. A museum-quality piece of considerable importance, the chest, which was made in 1640 by master craftsman Kaomi Nagashige for the Dutch East India Company, was bought by Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and is now on public display.