No bidders as Marx letter auctioned off for 8 million yuan

Marx's letter. Photo: thepaper.cn

A letter by German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, which was up for auction at a Shanghai auction house with a starting price of 8 million yuan ($1.34 million), went unsold on Monday.

Guo Meng, a spokesperson for Shanghai Hosane Auction, told the Global Times that no one bid for the item in the auction, although several buyers had showed interest before. He said the 8 million yuan initial price might have been too high for interested bidders.

The one-page letter, signed by Karl Marx, was written in Manchester on May 28, 1869 to an unknown receiver. Marx wrote in English, "I send you hereby the collection of the 'Russian Letters,' published till now in the Zukunft by Mr Borkheim." The letter had minor soiling and losses, and lacked original enclosure.

The same letter was auctioned at Christie's in London for ￡6,000 ($10,119) in June 2008, according to the website of Christie's. The price was already four times the estimate, which was ￡1,000 to ￡1,500.

Hosane's Guo said that the letter belongs to a Shanghai collector devoted to the collection of "red items," items related to revolutions inspired by Communism. The collector told the auction company he swapped an ancient Chinese painting in return for the letter.

Guo said to the knowledge of the auction company, there are currently only five letters written by Karl Marx in China, all of which are held by official agencies, including the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau and the State Archives Administration.

Liu Debao, a Shanghai collector of revolutionary items, agreed that the auction house had set the initial price too high.

"I have heard of items associated with Karl Marx being auctioned at several hundred thousand yuan, but never at 8 million. The price is unreasonable and frightens away interested buyers," he said.