Controversial Bronze Horse Expected to Go For $7.7 Million at Auction

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Sep 12th 2007 at 4:03PM

The highlight of the upcoming 4 day Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, scheduled to start on Oct 6th, will be a controversial bronze Qing Dynasty Horse head. It's one of a 12 zodiac animal set and was looted from the imperial summer palace in China back in 1860. The Chinese believe it should be returned to the Chinese goverment because it's stolen property, but Sothebys has no intention of giving it to anybody but the auction winner -- and the law is on their side. It's expected to go for HK80 million ($7.7 million).

All's fair in love and war, but it's too bad it's been separated from the other 11 zodiac animals.

Via BornRich

Tags: auction, bronze, china, chinese, history, hong kong, HongKong, horse, Qing Dynasty Horse Head, QingDynastyHorseHead, sothebys, zodiac