Vietnamese antiquities and art treasures with great historical and cultural value will be auctioned on 19 August in Ha Noi, marking the first time a professional auction company is authorised by the city’s People’s Committee to sell the country’s antiquities.

The Aug. 19 auction will be held at Ha Noi Hotel on Giang Vo Road at 8.00pm. It will be open to domestic and international collectors.

“All treasures that will be auctioned this time were evaluated by leading experts and we completed  all necessary juridical and scientific dossiers granted by competent institutions to guarantee the quality and legality of those treasures,” said  Quan Van Minh, chairman of the No 5 National Auction JSC at a press conference yesterday.

Three unique antiquities on the block include a 2,000-year-old bronze vessel of the Dong Son culture;  a ceramic jar with brown patterns from the Tran dynasty (13^th century), and an enamel box of the royal family from the Nguyen dynasty (mid-19^th century).  The latter is a treasure of the Hue Imperial Court, which was used to contain offerings to the Kings and members of the Nguyen royal family.

Rare stones: A jewellery set of two star ruby gemstones mined in Yen Bai Province will also be auctioned. —Photo courtesy of No 5 National Auction JSC

The above antiquities, which were owned by a collector in Hai Phong City, were evaluated by specialised institutions and leading experts to determine their originality and value.

Minh said Vietnamese and international collectors can buy those three antiquities, but the bronze Dong Son vessel, which has an initial price of 995.450.000 VND (US$43,769), cannot be allowed to leave Viet Nam.

Bui Van Liem, Deputy Director of the Institute of Archaeology, explained that it was a rare antiquity and very intact, possibly one of the largest bronze vessels of Dong Son culture and never seen in museums or private collection before.

In addition to those antiquities, a jewelery set of 2 star ruby gemstones exploited in Yen Bai Province will also be auctioned.  Their initial price is set at 1.7 billion VND (US$74,770).  Organisers said that star ruby is one of the rarest gemstones in the world. Due to excessive exploitation, the gemstone resource seems to be depleted and is now only found in a few countries.

Unique treasures: Three antiquities to be auctioned on 19 August include a 2,000-year-old bronze vessel of Dong Son culture, a ceramic jar with brown patterns of the Tran Dynasty (13th century) and an enamel box of the Nguyen Dynasty (mid-19th century) royal family.— Photo courtesy of No 5 National Auction JSC

Five gold-plated bronze statues of 13^th-century General Tran Quoc Tuan, created by artisan Le Ba Chung from Kieu Ky village, will also be auctioned.

Kieu Ky Village in the Gia Lam District in Ha Noi is well-known for its gold-leaf making over the last 300 years and is also the only village in Viet Nam adept at this craft.  A skilled craftsman can use 3.75 grammes of gold to make a sheet of gold covering one square metre.  This marks the first time products from this village are auctioned.

“Through the auction, we hope to be able to promote our village better and to gain more economic benefits for our artisans”, said Phung Dac Quan, Deputy Chairman of the People’s Committee of Kieu Ki Commune.

(Source: VNS)