Who will buy the shirt said to be King Bao Dai's royal robe?

The controversial dragon robe

The robe believed to be the royal robe of King Bao Dai is being offered for sale by the Delon - Hoebanx auction house in France. The auction is scheduled to take place on December 7. Information from Delon - Hoebanx said that this is an artifact from a private collection in France. According to the documentary image, this royal robe is made of yellow silk, lined with orange silk, embroidered with multi-colored threads and even gold threads. The robe has a dragon image, which is also a reference to the king. The catalog introducing the auction's artifacts also includes an introduction to King Bao Dai. Accordingly, he is described as someone who abdicated in 1945 with the statement "I would rather be a citizen of a free country than be the king of a slave country".

Photo of the shirt in the auction house's catalogue

However, there are currently many controversial opinions surrounding the question of whether the shirt really belongs to King Bao Dai or not. An anonymous collector in Hanoi said: "There are many details that I suspect the shirt belongs to King Bao Dai. For example, if it really is a dragon robe, the lining of the shirt should be gold, not orange. Orange is the color of a prince. Of course, there are many more details that observing the information on the auction page shows that it is not certain that it is an artifact of King Bao Dai. However, it is still necessary to observe directly and touch it to be able to determine accurately."

According to this collector, the shirt reminds her of the Vietnamese shirt that was ordered in China according to the ancient dragon robe model. "About 5-7 years ago, researcher Trinh Bach appraised a shirt, then when putting it up for sale, the label clearly stated that it was a replica shirt. However, the shirt was still sold for 1.5 billion VND. If it were a real shirt, it would be tens of billions of VND. Buyers also have many different purposes, such as buying it to display, or buying it for research, for example... They are not people who have much knowledge about antiques, so they buy it, or they have other purposes that I don't know about," said this collector.

Image of a corner of the shirt believed to be the royal robe of King Bao Dai

This collector believes that in any case, regardless of the information the auction house provides, the buyer must consider. But according to her, the possibility of the shirt being successfully auctioned is there. "Currently, there is a strong trend of wanting to buy Nguyen Dynasty items. The recently returned Hoang De Chi Bao seal also promotes that," the collector shared.

Meanwhile, an expert on Nguyen Dynasty culture also said that the above-mentioned artifact was too new, not to mention that the water wave patterns at the bottom of the robe were not in accordance with the canon, and also seemed unusually regular as if they were not hand-embroidered. Meanwhile, the dragon robe is an artifact with a very high canon. Furthermore, the expert said that currently at the National History Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, there is also an original dragon robe artifact. "To talk about the artifact in more detail, we have to touch it with our own hands. But we already have the original artifact at the museum," the researcher said.

The best option for the artifact

According to information from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there is currently no domestic museum or private museum that wants to buy the shirt to bring back.

Image of King Bao Dai introduced by auction house

During the recent purchase of the Emperor's seal , information from the Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) showed that the verification to match the information was done from many different sources. The Hue Monuments Conservation Center also had a written report on comparing the information recorded in the Dai Nam Thuc Luc book, Kham Dinh Dai Nam Hoi Dien Su Le with the information posted by Millon Auction Company to confirm that it was the Emperor's seal...

Returning to the garment believed to be a royal robe, Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, an expert on Vietnamese history and Hue culture, said that the artifact was posted for public auction. Therefore, if the state wants to buy it for state museums, it must pay that amount of money along with considering the authenticity factors. "I think there should be a mechanism for public museums to be able to buy that artifact. The garment is cheap, not as expensive as the seal. And when it is auctioned, anyone has the right to buy it, and then the price will be very high," said Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son.

Also according to Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son: "Experience is that according to international practice, state museums are always given priority. State museums can negotiate before auction, pay and bear tax fees. The consignor will have to cut 5 - 10% depending on the company for the auction house. If we negotiate, we also have to cut that much. Second is tax for the host country. The Department of Cultural Heritage must negotiate with the curator organizing the auction to meet the real owner and agree before the auction. During the negotiation process, it is also clearly stated that when I buy, I will pay enough tax like when I sell at auction to the company, to the state. It always runs from 17 - 23% of the object's price".

According to Dr. Son, that is the best way for precious artifacts to be repatriated at a good price. "If we put them up for auction, we will lose because our mechanism does not allow us to follow the auction to the end. For example, if I bid 1,000 USD, someone will bid 1,100 USD. When I auction the painting Chieu Ta by King Ham Nghi, at one point I cannot bid any more because the state only allows that much. When I stop at that frame, the winner will only buy a few more coins than me. So I have never won an auction like that before," said Dr. Son.

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