Vietnam has successfully negotiated the return of a 19th-century Vietnamese Imperial seal from French auction house Millon, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
The government will buy Millon’s seal without providing the negotiated price, state media reported.
The seal weighs 11 kilograms (24 pounds), with a large flying dragon image on top, according to a description page for the item that has since been removed. Although the ministry’s release did not disclose the final negotiated price, Millon had offered to sell the stamp for 2-3 million euros ($1.96-2.95 million).
The Imperial Seal was created in 1823 and belonged to Emperor Minh Mang, who ruled Vietnam between 1820 and 1841, according to the statement. The phrase “Hoang De Chi Bao” (Emperor’s Treasure) appears on the Imperial Seal.
“Returning the Golden Seal to Vietnam not only adds to the collection of lost artifacts, treasures and cultural heritage ‘bleeding’ abroad, but also strengthens the state’s position to preserve and enhance the value of cultural heritage. promote,” Bloomberg quotes the statement as saying.
Millon also offers for sale a gold bowl, which has a dragon image, from the time of King Khai Dinh of the Nguyen dynasty (reigning 1916-1925). The scale would raise between 20,000 and 25,000 euros, local media reported.
The popularity and presence of Vietnamese antiquities in international auctions has increased.
In June, a jade bowl belonging to Tu Duc, the fourth king of Vietnam’s last royal dynasty, went under the hammer for €845,000 at an auction in Paris.
According to the VNExpress, a Vietnamese Mandarin cap from the Nguyen dynasty was sold in Spain in October last year for 600,000 euros.
