Pursuits
Emperor’s Pearls Star in $167 Million Sotheby’s Hong Kong Sale
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An imperial pearl necklace is the star item in a Hong Kong auction that may raise HK$1.3 billion ($167 million). Chinese investors are buying art because of worries that prices of property and stocks have risen too much.
The 18th-century necklace, which Sotheby’s says might have belonged to the Emperor Yongzheng (reign: 1722-1735), is one of 2,400 lots of wine, art and gems on sale starting April 3. At last year’s equivalent auction, the company tallied HK$691 million, less than half the HK$1.77 billion in 2008.