A set of Qing Dynasty silver coin proof made in 1890 offered at China Guardian 2005 Autumn Auctions yesterday (November 5) set a new world auction record for Chinese silver coins at a price of RMB1.65 million yuan.
The “Kuang Hsu Yuan Pao” coin (Lot 3461), also known as the “Seven Three Reversed Pattern”, was issued by Guangdong Province but was circulated for only a very short period of time. It was manufactured by the British Heaton Mint and is extremely precious and in perfect condition.
Over 90% of the 300 plus items from the collection of Ma Dingxiang were sold at a total sale price of over RMB3 million yuan.
The first day sale of modern Chinese paintings opened yesterday morning with three special sessions that brought in a total of over RMB75 million yuan. A highlight of the sale was a classical style landscape painting by Huang Binhong (Lot 1715), a 3-metre long masterpiece by the painter during his late years. Starting at RMB3.8 million yuan, the painting finally sold for RMB6.38 million yuan. Originally a gift by the painter to a friend in 1952, the piece has been shown and illustrated at various exhibitions and publications.
Modern and Contemporary Paintings and Calligraphy (1) achieved a total sale of over RMB112 million, representing over 90% sold rate. A highlight of the sale was Lu Yanshao’s landscape album (Lot 1950) which snatched RMB5.28 million yuan.
(All prices quoted include buyers’ premium.)