"I snagged my shoelace, missed the step and 'crash bang wallop,' there was a million pieces of high quality Qing ceramics lying around beneath me," Nick Flynn told BBC radio.
"There is no way my pocket will stretch to reimburse them for the damage that I have done".
A regular visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Flynn, 42, expressed surprise the three vases had not been secured in some way.
"They were just left lying on the window sill."
The vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, were donated to the museum in 1948 and were one of its most recognisable exhibits.
Shocked but determined museum staff have vowed to glue the pieces back together again and take steps to ensure a similar accident doesn't happen again.
"I have had a letter from a Duncan Robinson," Flynn said. "He is the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, and he has written to me asking me not to visit the museum again in the near future."
Update: Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow finds Mr. Robinson's letter petty:
Nick Flynn, the tripper, is a regular at the museum, and he had what truly sounds like a freak accident; falling down a flight of stairs and accidentally shattering three priceless vases that had been insecurely displayed there is the kind of thing I can see myself doing. Maybe he was a jerk about it, but it sounds from this like he was truly sorry.
He's right! And the disinvitation was probably unnecessary--if you were Nick, wouldn't you be too embarrassed to come back around?
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