After a tenacious bidding which ran almost up to forty five minutes. A seemingly inexpensive vase, estimated to sell for between $7,000 and $9,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York yesterday sold for a startling $431,250. The object, a glazed ceramic vessel produced by the Grueby Faience Company, set an auction record for a work by the Arts and Crafts-era design firm.The work reflects a highly unusual and rare glaze coloration for Grueby pottery, with terrific proportions and crisp modeling, which is said to have driven the intense competition between at least two collectors Earlier, another vase by the same company went for $72,500—more than six times its high estimate of $12,000.