Super Rich from Winning a Lottery-Chapter 349 - 245: 8-Year 400-Fold Increase

In November 2010, a renowned international auction house launched a special event titled "Elegantly Simple—Exquisite Ming-Style Huanghuali Furniture" in their 2010 Autumn Auction, marking the largest auction of Ming-style Huanghuali furniture held in China to date.

The debut of 61 "exquisite pieces" certainly did not disappoint the awaiting buyers, with auction results that were equally satisfying for the sellers and the auction house.

This Huanghuali event not only achieved the remarkable "white gloves" (100% lots sold) result, with a total turnover reaching 259 million RMB, averaging over 4 million RMB per item.

Among them, a "Ming Huanghuali clustercrown pattern six-pillar canopy bed" was sold for a high price of 43.12 million RMB, setting a new record for Huanghuali furniture auctions and becoming the "most expensive bed in history."

Additionally, a pair of "Qing Qianlong Huanghuali dragon pattern four-part cabinets" fetched 39.76 million RMB, becoming the "most expensive cabinets in history."

As collectors and spectators were still amazed by these results, the record for Huanghuali furniture auctions was quickly broken again.

On December 12, 2010, at a major auction company in Jinling, during the Ming and Qing furniture event of the 2010 Autumn Auction, a "Ming Imperial Huanghuali folding chair" was finally sold for 62 million RMB, with the total turnover including commission nearing 70 million RMB.

This folding chair not only rightfully became history's "first chair," but also set a new world record for Huanghuali furniture auctions, and unsurprisingly became the highest-priced item in the Chinese classical furniture auction.

In the whole Ming and Qing furniture special event, the total turnover for 60 pieces reached 208 million RMB, with a success rate of 95%.

This new record and total transaction should bring great satisfaction to the major auction house in Jinling, who is venturing into the lucrative Beijing market known for repeatedly breaking classical furniture auction records. It was unsurprising for the classical furniture auction specialists from Nanjing to make a bold entry here.

"If it was auctioned in Jinling, it might not have reached this price." A senior Huanghuali collector remarked thoughtfully.

"After all, whether it's the concentration of buyers or the overall capability of buyers, Beijing is unmatched nationwide."

"This Ming Huanghuali iron-inlaid silver folding chair is the largest and oldest we've seen, qualifying it as a museum-grade piece," said the manager of the classical furniture department at the major auction house in Jinling to reporters.

"Among furniture collections, folding chairs are initially one of the most sought-after items, and this particular chair is made from large Huanghuali timbers, which develop slowly. The raw material required to make such a chair estimates a maturation period of over 800 years, or even over a thousand years."

Folding chairs are essentially "foldable stools with a backrest," originally used by the ancients in military campaigns, hunting, or outdoor excursions, later evolving into hall furniture and becoming high-status seating. When talking about the ranking of heroes by sitting in the "first chair," it originates from this, indicating its esteemed position in furniture.

Later, folding chairs used in halls no longer needed "folding;" hence, people transformed them into regular chairs with four straight legs, which became the more common "round chairs."

"Due to frequent folding use, they are easily damaged, so there are very few folding chairs left. There's a very optimistic estimate that there are fewer than ten Ming Huanghuali folding chairs in existence worldwide."

The exceptional performance of Ming and Qing Huanghuali furniture at the 2010 Autumn Auction was primarily due to the scarcity of the resource.

The Ming dynasty's royal preference for Huanghuali products led to massive deforestation, by the late Ming and early Qing, the species of Huanghuali wood was nearing extinction.

In the subsequent centuries, due to historical reasons, 70 percent of domestic Huanghuali furniture was lost abroad, and in the Qionghai province, what little Huanghuali remained was mostly crafted into furniture or tools, or used in construction, with hardly any large intact timber seen.

Even though Ming and Qing Huanghuali furniture achieved a "price leap" in the 2010 Autumn Auction, many collectors told reporters that it's actually a "price correction," as the price of "old" Huanghuali furniture has long been undervalued.

"In classical furniture, especially Huanghuali, there's an odd phenomenon in the circle where old items sell for less than new items, and new items sell for less than raw timber."

The reverse pricing of Huanghuali timber and furniture is quite common in the market.

"The money from selling a set of furniture can't even buy back the raw timber needed to make the same furniture," a businessman running Vietnamese Huanghuali furniture told reporters.

Because Huanghuali timber matures very slowly, it requires at least 500 years before being used as furniture raw timber.

Huanghuali furniture production began in the Ming dynasty, with its golden age spanning from the early Qing to the Qianlong period, over a hundred years. After the Jia Qing era, as the timber supply drastically declined nearing extinction, it virtually ceased production.

Huanghuali timber grown in the Qionghai region of China is reputed to be of the best quality and, naturally, the most expensive. Besides that, Huanghuali timber is also produced in places like Vietnam, but its quality can't match that of Qionghai Huanghuali. The two differ in terms of color, smell, texture, etc., with the price difference between equivalent "Vietnam Huanghuali" and "Qionghai Huanghuali" furniture sometimes reaching as much as 1:10.

However, since Qionghai Huanghuali is almost extinct, Vietnamese Huanghuali is currently considered the best quality among Huanghuali. Even in the early Qing, tradesmen started using "Vietnam Huanghuali" as a substitute for "Qionghai Huanghuali."