Auctioneers of the world unite, Marx is worth more than loose change: philosopher’s notes now sell for vast sums in China
Billionaire ‘superfan’ of the father of Communism is putting a single page from his notebook up for auction with a starting price of US$157,000
Karl Marx famously lived most of his life in poverty, but now a single page of his writings is going on sale for the equivalent of US$157,000 in China.
The handwritten note, which is currently owned by one of China’s new breed of super-rich capitalists, is being put up for auction next week with a starting price of 1 million yuan.
Although China has enthusiastically embraced many aspects of modern-day capitalism, Communism remains the country’s official ideology.
The authorities recently staged a series of events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the German philosopher’s birth with President Xi Jinping saying that Marx’s theories were still “totally correct” for the modern era.
Monday’s auction will also include the sale of a manuscript by Friedrich Engels, Marx’s friend and the co-author of The Communist Manifesto, according to the website of the Beijing Council International Auction Company.