Vintage Chinese teas are beating stock, commodity indices as prices soar at Hong Kong auction
- A stack of seven compressed cakes of Tong Xing Hao Puer tea from the 1920s went for HK$8.4 million (US$1.08 million) at autumn auction
- Surge in prices has followed recent phenomenon in collectibles and memorabilia, from liquor to limited-edition sneakers
Vintage Chinese teas are making a mark for themselves in Hong Kong’s auction scene, with investors and collectors paying record prices, defying the gloom in a city hamstrung by months of political upheaval and a recession.
A stack of seven compressed cakes of Tong Xing Hao Puer tea from the 1920s went under the hammer for HK$8.4 million (US$1.08 million) before fees on November 24, according to auctioneer L&H Auction. Local and mainland Chinese bidders drove the price to the upper end of its estimate of between HK$5.8 million and HK$8.5 million, according to Zhou Zi, founder and chief executive of the Causeway Bay auction house.
That works out to be a cool 14.4 per cent compound annual growth from Zhou’s estimate of HK$10,000 for its value in 1970. The appreciation is respectable compared with a 10 to 13 per cent annualised gain in Hong Kong and US benchmark stock indices over that time, or a 3.2 per cent gain from a basket of 23 commodities tracked by Bloomberg.
“Vintage Puer can be an investment vehicle because the value will keep appreciating,” Zhou said in an interview. “It cannot be copied, it is a consumable product with depleting supply over time and it tastes better as it ages. These factors will keep the market on the up trend.”
The surge in prices for vintage teas has followed a recent phenomenon in modern-day collectibles and local memorabilia, with investors snapping up items like Kweichow Moutai liquor and limited-edition sneakers, as potentially the next big hits.