Wreck sale raises over €3m

THE three-day auction of 76,000 pieces of Chinese export porcelain from the Ca Mau shipwreck at Sotheby’s in Amsterdam raised €3,046,716, more than double the pre-sale estimate.

The early wreck was discovered off the Ca Mau peninsula in Vietnam and proceeds will be used by the Vietnamese government to fund further operations.

Among the highlights were a 69-piece tea service with the Boy on a buffalo pattern which made €49,200, 12 times the estimate. An Imari pavilion pattern tea service was sold to a Russian buyer for €31,200, 10 times the estimate. A boy on a buffalo tea service made €28,800, 10 times the estimate.