At the auction of Emperor Pui’s collection at the Philips Asia Auction House in Hong Kong on the evening of the 24th, the watch worn at the time was finally sold for HK$48.9 million, including the fee.
The watch is “Ref 96 Quantiem Run” by Patek Philip, Switzerland, one of the top three luxury watch makers, with an estimated winning price of $3 million and the identity of the bidder has not been disclosed. The successful bidder who participated in the bidding by phone took the watch by offering an additional HK$10 million at a time.
“It’s the best result (price) once owned by the emperor,” said Thomas Ferracci, head of Philips Asia’s watch division.Earlier in 2017, the Patec Philip watch of Haile Selassie, Ethiopia’s last emperor, was sold for $2.9 million (about 3.8 billion won). In the same year, Rolex watches owned by Vietnam’s last emperor Baodai were sold for $5 million.Pui became the 12th emperor of Qing at the age of 2 in 1908, but four years later, he was known as an unlucky emperor who was deposed by the Shinhae Revolution in 1912. In particular, it is well known to the public for the movie “The Last Emperor” (1988).Pui became the emperor of Manchuria by the Japanese occupation of China in 1934, but in 1945, he was taken to the Soviet POW camp, which won World War II, and lived a turbulent life. Later, he was elected as a member of the 4th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (Political Council) in 1964 and worked as a civil affairs officer who manages literature, and died in 1967.
The Patek Philip watch at auction was worn by Emperor Puy when he was taken to the Soviet Union. According to the memoirs of Pui’s nephew Aishin-Gioro Yuyuan, Pui handed over the watches, pens and artworks to his Russian interpreter Georgi Fermakov before returning home from his Soviet prison life. The interpreter’s family sold Pui’s collection to an anonymous European collector a few years later.Along with the Patec Philip watch, other Pui’s collections, including pens, were also displayed at the auction.
KS CHOI
US ASIA JOURNAL
