Auction loss, found again

About 15 years ago a small auction company started up in this town. It was a great time to spend an evening and there were lots of deals and fun. One night this amazing Art Nouveau jack-in-the-pulpit Turn-Teplitz RSTK Amphora porcelain piece came up for auction. It was made around the turn of the century in Austria and is about 14" tall. I bid like crazy but gave up when it seemed too much for me at the time. Of all the things I didn't win at those auctions, this was a piece that just stayed in my mind with a lot of regrets. About 5 years later the auction house moved to a larger building and had some of the auctioneers private pieces on display. There was that "vase". I begged her, I offered to pay a lot more than she paid for it. My husband even tried to get it for me for an anniversary present but she wouldn't sell it. I came up with the idea of a swap and offered to make her a stained glass piece based on her favorite Louis Icart etching called "Bubbles". She agreed and after working together on the design and picking out the glass I made the stained glass panel for her and she gave me the vase. We both felt we had a great deal. She has visiting rights any time she wishes to see the Amphora piece.