'Injae Daeyi' Calligraphy Sold for 40 Million Won at K-Auction... Twice the Starting Price of 20 Million Won
'COVID-19 Impact' Overall Auction Success Rate Drops to 67%
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The calligraphy work "Injae Jeil (人材第一)" written by Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul was auctioned for 40 million KRW at the K Auction March auction held on the 25th.
K Auction announced on the 26th that the starting bid for "Injae Jeil" was 20 million KRW, and after fierce competition, it was sold at double the price. This piece measures 131 cm in width and 32.5 cm in height and was written by Chairman Lee Byung-chul in 1981.
Chairman Lee Byung-chul enjoyed calligraphy so much that he always kept brush, ink, and paper in his office and started his day by writing calligraphy. He especially wrote phrases derived from classics such as the Analects, historical anecdotes, management philosophies, and life principles in calligraphy. The phrase "Injae Jeil" exhibited this time fully reflects Hoam’s management philosophy emphasizing that business is essentially about managing people. Hoam valued talent development so much that he said, "Throughout my life, I spent 80% of my time gathering and educating talented people."
A total of 175 works worth about 10 billion KRW were exhibited in this K Auction auction. K Auction reported a winning bid rate of 67% and a total winning bid amount of approximately 5.3657 billion KRW. Considering that the winning bid rate was 74% in the January auction, it is interpreted that the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected investor sentiment in the auction market. K Auction explained that high-priced works worth hundreds of millions of KRW were sold after difficulties.
The highest-priced works sold on the day were Lee Ufan’s 1936 work "With the Wind" and Park Seo-bo’s 1978 work "Myobeop No. 10-78." Both works were sold for 900 million KRW. Lee Ufan’s work was expected to reach up to 1.3 billion KRW, and Park Seo-bo’s work was expected to reach up to 1.2 billion KRW; both found new owners at the lowest end of the expected winning bid price.
As part of the social distancing campaign, K Auction encouraged telephone or written bids rather than on-site bidding, which also seems to have affected the winning bid rate. Since on-site bidding was restricted, the competition rate inevitably decreased.
K Auction allowed auction attendance and on-site bidding only for pre-registered guests and arranged seats in the auction hall with wide spacing to limit the number of attendees. They also implemented measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including non-contact temperature checks for all entrants, mask-wearing by all employees and attendees, installation of acrylic partitions on the auction stage, and disinfection of the auction hall and exhibition hall the day after the auction.
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