Champion 2016 Summer Hong Kong Auction draws top bidders and realizes record prices for Chinese coinage Champion Champion Auction is the oldest independent numismatic auction house in the greater China area, holding floor auctions in Hong Kong since 1996. Champion is also the only Asian Auction house which conducts auction lot viewing in the United States, Taipei, Shanghai, and the Hong Kong/Macau area. This policy allows more bidders to see the coins and then be confident of the high quality of the coins if they prefer to bid by phone or online. This policy also encourages a much stronger floor turnout, leading to top auction prices. The August 23, 2016 Champion summer auction offered a range of choice numismatic material. Champion was honored to feature selections from the Howard Bowker Collection as part of the Howard Bowker Benefit Auction, which will use its share of the proceeds for the promotion of numismatics, including digitization and education projects. As part of this, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Champion’s 2016 summer auction sold 513 out of 554 lots for a 92.3% success rate, realizing USD 4,211,794.60 (all prices realized include the buyer’s commission). Once again, Champion had the highest overall auction prices realized and the top auction lot sold. Lot 496, a 1994 Chinese Singapore Gold kilo, sold for USD 678,500. This was more than five time higher than other Hong Kong auction’s top lots and marks the third consecutive time in the past auction period that Champion had the top auction lot sold in Hong Kong/ Macau. Champion also sold the top Chinese vintage coin, lot 342 (1929 Sun Yat Sen Globe Pattern dollar) from the NC Collection, which sold for USD 472,000. The top six lots auctioned in the recent Hong Kong auction week were all from Champion. In addition, Champion sold the top four Chinese vintage coins and four of the top six Chinese modern coins. The Hong Kong auction preview was held in a function room of the Hong Kong Hyatt Regency Hotel on August 22, 2016. The viewing room was packed with guests from the beginning to the end of the preview. The interest was so great that it was necessary to hold a 128
private viewing afterward and an extra preview early the next day before the auction started. When the auction was about to begin, the Hyatt ballroom was packed and there was standing room only. Even more significantly, there were many collectors who had not been seen since the peak of the Chinese numismatic market in 2011. Many top collectors came to Hong Kong to personally view and bid on the coins from the Howard Bowker Collection and other coins from the NC Collection. The top lot of the Bowker Collection was lot 17 (a finest known Chihli 1896 one dollar silver coin, NGC MS63. Finest known). Bidding began at USD 65,000, and a Taiwan phone bidder went up to USD 230,000 before stopping. Two floor bidders, one from Taiwan and the other from Hong Kong, continued bidding. The Hong Kong bidder finally won with a record setting price of USD 354,000. Other important coins included: Lot 6 (a finest known Empire 1910 fifty cents, NGC MS67) started the auction on a high note and was sold to a young Shenzhen buyer for USD 33,040. Lot 9 (an Empire 1911 Dollar) sold to an online buyer from the western United States for USD 22,990. Lot 28 (a finest known Chihli Province 1899 fifty cents, NGC MS-64) went to a Taiwan telephone bidder for USD 59,000. Lot 31, a China-Chihli 1908 one dollar silver coin NGC MS-66, was won by a western American online buyer for USD 19,360. Lot 32, a China-Fengtien 1898 one dollar silver coin NGC MS-65, sold to a Taiwan floor bidder for USD 54,280. Lot 33, the finest known 1898 Fengtien fifty cents NGC MS 65, was the focus of intense bidding between a floor bidder and a phone bidder, both from Taiwan. The phone bidder finally won the lot at USD 82,600.