BEIJING, Oct. 13 -- An agalwood-made antique bed which was put on auction for 500 million yuan over the past National Day holidays in Putian, a city in east China's Fujian province, has attracted many visitors around the country, including the media.
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An antique bed made out of three tons of agalwood and carved with 55 dragons on display at an antique shop in Putian, east China's Fujian province, during the past National Day holidays. (Photo: The Strait News)
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The Strait News, a local newspaper Friday quoted some antique experts as saying that the bed, made out of three tons of the most expensive wood and carved with beautiful and delicate dragons and waves, is just a living national treasure.
Also known as "a fossil wood", agalwood is one of the most rare and precious resinous wood that gives off fragrance as it grows older. Experts speculate that the wood used for this bed, which is 2.2 meters long, 1.8 meters wide and 2.4 meters in height, came at least from a 1000-year-old tree that originally grew in Indonesia.
According to the latest figures from China's auction market, one kilogram of agalwood already costs at least over 130,000 RMB.
Lin Rengui, the owner of the bed and also the honorary chairman of the Collectors Association of Fujian Province, put the bed on display at the antique shop he opened days ago. 63-year-old Lin said that it was in 1993 he bought the bed from a family that happened to be descendants of the Qing dynasty, by exchanging with dozens of ancient Chinese porcelain antiques worth 20 million yuan.
Without any trace of fractures in its body, the bed is believed to be made out of a single agalwood block.
Lin put his bed on auction for 500 million yuan but he said some antique experts suggested its price should be as high as 2 billion yuan or even higher.
A descendent from the family of an antique collector, Lin said he planned to build an antiques museum in his hometown of Putian, as well as donating some of his collection to the nation.
(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)
