Final emperor of China’s watch sells for file $5.1 million in Hong Kong public sale
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Thomas Perazzi, head of watches at public sale home Phillips Asia, instructed Reuters that it’s “the very best end result” for any wristwatch that after belonged to an emperor.
It was certainly one of solely eight identified Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune timepieces and was gifted by Puyi to his Russian interpreter when he was imprisoned by the Soviet Union, the public sale home stated. It simply beat a pre-sale estimate of $3 million.
Different watches owned by emperors and bought at public sale embody a Patek Philippe timepiece that belonged to the final Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, which bought for $2.9 million in 2017.
A Rolex watch that belonged to the final Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, fetched $5 million at an public sale in 2017.
Born in 1906, Aisin-Gioro Puyi was the final Emperor of China’s Qing dynasty, who started his reign at two years previous.
After Japan’s defeat in World Struggle II in 1945, Puyi was captured at China’s Shenyang Airport by the Soviet Crimson Military. He was detained as a battle prisoner and incarcerated in a detention camp in Khabarovsk, Russia, for 5 years.
Journalist Russell Working, who interviewed Puyi’s interpreter Georgy Permyakov in 2001, stated he gave the watch to Permyakov on his final day within the Soviet Union, shortly earlier than he was extradited again to China.
These had been the type of issues he typically did to folks that had been very particular to him” Working stated.
