The questionable decision to hold the auctions of Chinese pottery antiques in the Netherlands is estimated to have cost Vietnam millions of euros.
The wrecked ship was discovered accidentally. In 1998, Binh Thuan authorities detected two boat owners, Nguyen Ngoc Hung and Nguyen Ngoc Linh, offering for sale many antiques. Investigation revealed that the two men had taken 32,569 antique items and 2.4 tonnes of metal from a wreck, around 90 miles from Ca Mau Cape.
Experts joined forces to determine the origin and the age of antiques and they concluded they were Chinese pottery.
The ship was determined to have sunk while transporting the pottery from China’s Guangzhou to Indonesia’s Jakarta between 1727 and 1735. Because of fire, the boat, 24m long and 8m wide, sunk in the territorial waters of Vietnam.
Ca Mau province set up a steering board on the excavation and maintenance of the antiques taken from that wreck. The board’s members were officials of the Vietnam History Museum, the Ca Mau People’s Committee, the Ca Mau Department of Culture and Information, the Visal Rescue Enterprise, and representatives of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence and Transport.
From August 8, 1998 to June 7, 1999, Ca Mau fished out 131,639 antiques made of cloth, pottery, wood, stone, etc. The pottery is thought to have been produced at famous kilns in China.
The government permitted the two provinces of Ca Mau and Binh Thuan to take these antiques to the Netherlands for auction. More than 76,000 antiques were transported from Ca Mau to HCM City’s Cat Lai Port for export to Holland.
According to the agreement between the related sides, Ca Mau and Binh Thuan would share the income from the auctions, with 20% for the auctioneer, Sotheby’s.
The total income obtained from the auctions was more than Eur3 million but it fell to Eur2.5 million after paying income tax to the Netherlands, and the sum continued to decrease after paying fees for protection, maintenance, excavation, etc. Finally, Vietnam received around Eur1 million.
An antique expert said Vietnam lost millions of euros because of the auctions in the Netherlands since Vietnam had to pay tax, commissions to the organisers, etc. In addition, some businessmen in HCM City went to Holland to participate in the auctions.
The question is: why weren’t the auctions organised in Vietnam?
After the auction, Ca Mau province received nearly VND28 billion ($1.75 million). This sum was transferred into an account of the Ca Mau Department of Culture and Information at the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank).
The sum decreased again when the chief accountant of the Ca Mau Department of Culture and Information embezzled VND130 million ($8,000). However, the accountant died while the case was being investigated.
