Auctioned Guanyin Statue Found to Be Copper Alloy
On.cc · 1 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
A jewellery dealer surnamed Qiu (邱先生) in Shanxi bought a confiscated Guanyin statue through Taiyuan Public Resources Auction Centre Co. and later had it tested, only to find it was not gold but a copper alloy. The statue had been auctioned in May 2023 at an appraised value of more than 790,000 yuan, and Qiu won it with a bid of 845,100 yuan. After about three years of pursuing the matter, he recently recovered the money he paid following court rulings that rescinded the sales relationship and ordered a refund with interest. The case has also raised unresolved questions about how an item once described as pure gold ended up being identified as copper alloy
Key Points
- Court documents said a state-owned enterprise executive in Taiyuan received the Guanyin “gold statue” in 2013 as a gift tied to faster settlement of engineering payments
- Prosecutors classified the statue as stolen property in 2017 and confiscated it before it entered the Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance public property warehouse in 2021
- In May 2023, the statue was auctioned with an appraisal above 790,000 yuan, and Qiu bought it for 845,100 yuan, about HK$995,000
- Testing after the purchase found the statue contained more than 79.9% copper, 20.08% zinc and zero silver, contradicting its description as gold
- The Xiaodian District Court in Taiyuan ordered the contract rescinded and the payment refunded with interest, and the Taiyuan Intermediate Court later rejected an appeal
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers who follow auctions, asset disposal and cross-border trade in valuables, the case underlines the risks of relying on official descriptions without independent verification. It also points to accountability gaps in the chain of custody for confiscated property, especially when public bodies cannot explain how a supposedly gold item became a copper-alloy object