(CRI)
Updated: 2007-11-23 09:49

The auction of four pieces of cultural relics that claimed to be "state heirlooms" was halted by the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. The reason, according to the administration, is that the auction company has conducted misleading and false advertisements for its goods.

A file photo published on November 22, 2007 shows an antique that is said to be a bronze pot from the Spring and Autumn Period (770B.C.-476B.C.). [CRI]

The auction company, Royal International Auction Co., Ltd, a major cultural relic auction agent, has been found to have advertised their goods as state-level treasures without examination from the expert panel of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics, the local Beijing Times reported.

The four pieces of cultural relics are advertised as a bronze pot from the Spring and Autumn Period (770B.C.-476B.C.), a belt hook from the Warring States Period (403B.C.-221B.C.), and two pieces of lacquer ware used by the first emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (6 B.C.-57A.D.). They belong to two Taiwan collectors and were originally scheduled to be auctioned on the 17th and 18th of November. Their total value is estimated at 70 million yuan, or US$9.3 million.

Although these antiques were claimed to be state treasures by the auction company, the expert panel from the Cultural Relics Bureau said three of them were forgeries and the last one was still under experts' examination. The auction company has been treating these works as cultural relics in their advertisements and therefore might mislead collectors, said an official with the cultural relic bureau.

The Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics said if such objects entered the cultural relics market, they would disturb market order.

The Royal International Auction Co., Ltd admitted that it had organized its own expert panel and published news of the auction without the authorization by the Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics. From the point of view of the company's experts, the to-be-auctioned goods are all authentic. The company has immediately stopped its auction activity soon after receiving the order.

These art works will be returned to the Taiwan clients after the closing of the matter.

The Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics has vowed to regulate the auction market of cultural relics in the future.

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