dexinwin A Chinese jewelry dealer has finally received a refund after spending 845,100 yuan on a statue advertised as a solid-gold Guanyin figure and spending nearly three years seeking legal redress after discovering that it was actually made mainly of brass.
The case, which attracted attention in China, involved a confiscated Guanyin statue that was auctioned online in Shanxi Province in May 2023. After 212 bids, the statue was sold to a buyer surnamed Qiu for 845,100 yuan. The auction materials identified it as a 2,000-gram “pure gold Guanyin statue” and valued it at about 790,400 yuan.
Qiu said he had previously participated in similar auctions and did not conduct a detailed inspection when collecting the items. The statue was accompanied by an appraisal certificate identifying it as a thousand-purity gold product.
However, after taking the statue home, Qiu noticed that parts of its surface appeared to be losing color. He subsequently had it tested and found that it contained mostly copper and zinc rather than gold.
A later product-quality appraisal commissioned during the court proceedings found that the statue contained 70.06% copper and 28.5% zinc. Gold accounted for only 0.027%. The appraisal concluded that the statue was an ordinary brass alloy and did not qualify as a precious-metal pure-gold product.
The statue had a complicated history. According to court findings, it was originally purchased in 2012 for 880,000 yuan and later given as a gift to an executive of a state-owned company. The recipient subsequently handed it over to the authorities. It was classified as confiscated property and eventually transferred to the Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance's public property warehouse.
In 2022, an asset appraisal report again classified the 2,000-gram statue as a gold product and assigned it a value of 790,400 yuan. It was then included in the 2023 online auction.
After discovering the discrepancy, Qiu requested a refund but was initially unsuccessful. He later took legal action, seeking the return of his auction payment, interest and additional compensation.
The first-instance court ruled that the contractual relationship concerning the statue should be terminated because the actual material of the item was seriously inconsistent with the auction information. The court ordered the Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance Budget Review Center to return 845,100 yuan to Qiu, together with corresponding interest, while Qiu was required to return the statue. The court also ordered the defendant to bear a 50,000-yuan appraisal cost.
Qiu had also sought triple compensation, but the court rejected that request, saying the available evidence was insufficient to establish fraudulent intent or gross negligence.
The Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance Budget Review Center appealed, arguing in part that the dispute involved an auction contract rather than a direct sales contract and that auction rules concerning defects should apply.
The Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment. The court held that an auction can involve multiple legal relationships, including the auction, agency and sales relationships. In this case, the finance department, as the consignor, remained the seller in its relationship with Qiu and therefore had a duty concerning the quality of the auctioned item. The court found that the actual material of the statue was seriously inconsistent with the information publicly provided for the auction.
After nearly three years of disputes and legal proceedings, Qiu has now recovered the 845,100 yuan he paid for the statue.
One question remains unresolved: how an item that had repeatedly been identified in official records as a gold statue eventually turned out to be primarily brass. The Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance said it had contacted the organization that originally transferred the statue to the authorities and was waiting for a response.
The case has also drawn attention to the importance of accurate descriptions and verification procedures in auctions involving confiscated valuables, particularly when precious metals are involved.
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