According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau (71) recently auctioned 77 luxury handbags at Sotheby’s online auction. The bags have been collected for 20 years and are estimated to have a total value of HK$16.3 million. Most of them are Hermes handbags, and some Chanel handbags are included.
In particular, the auction will also showcase six Hermes Birkin bags decorated with 18-carat platinum diamond locks. One of them is known to cost up to HK$2 million. The sale period is from January 30 to February 9.
SCMP said the auction is “the largest handbag auction conducted by a single owner in Asia.” Sotheby’s promoted, “You can meet all the limited editions that have achieved handbag history over the past 20 years in this collection.” Some of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to charity.Lau, who runs the real estate developer Hua Inch Group, was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery and money laundering in Macau in 2014. However, he is avoiding his brother without entering Macau. Macau and Hong Kong have no extradition treaty.According to Forbes’ list of rich people in Hong Kong released by Forbes in February last year, he ranked sixth in Hong Kong with a net worth of $13.7 billion as of last year. Lau is actively bidding after suffering huge losses from stock investments by default Chinese real estate company Evergrande. Lau earned HK$64 million by selling his famous wine collection through Christie’s auction last year. He reportedly owned more than 10,000 expensive wine collections. In March last year, Chinese imperial porcelain worth HK$151 million was disposed of through Sotheby’s auction.
JENNIFER KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
