Myanmar's golden pearls fetch top price at auction
Myanmar government gains 30 per cent more by holding the sale in the city as keen bidders push prices up to eight times higher than usual
With the lure of Myanmar's golden pearls irresistible to mainland buyers, bringing a new international pearl auction to Hong Kong paid off for the Myanmese government, fetching about US$4 million from keen bidders.
The buyers paid around 30 per cent more than what would have been paid at an auction in Myanmar, said Michael Hajjar the spokesman for Belpearl, co-organiser of the auction on Friday and Saturday.
The auction was held a few days before the opening of the quarterly Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, and booth holders were keen to add golden pearls to their stock.
"If you don't have any golden pearls, no one will come to look at your stall," said Kenneth Choi Chi-wai, the chief executive officer of GYSO Pearls and Jewellery. His stall saw a steady stream of mainland buyers looking for golden pearls on Tuesday.
Choi attended the auction but his bids fell short. "At most other auctions, the end price ends up being around 20 to 30 per cent more than the floor price," he said, referring to the smallest price a seller would accept.
"That 19mm pearl at the auction," he said, "I've never seen anything go so high above the floor price. I put in double, but it went for about eight times. Many of the other lots went for five times the floor price."