A wristwatch once owned by China’s last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Puyi, went up for auction on Tuesday (23 May) in Hong Kong.
The piece was predicted to fetch over $3m, in part due to the rarity of the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune.
It sold for $5.1m in an auction which lasted around seven minutes.
Other items being auctioned by Phillips were an inscribed paper fan, a manuscript notebook, watercolour paintings and a leather-bound printed edition of Confucius’ Analects once belonging to the last Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
The 86-year-old watch’s remarkable history travelled to Siberia with its owner when he was imprisoned for five years in the USSR from 1945 to 1950.
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