Important imperial style 'double dragon' white jade seal. Qing dynasty 'treasure of concern over phenomena at eighty' . Photo courtesy Freeman's

Philadelphia, PA) September 10 – At approximately 3:15 this afternoon, with a packed gallery and over 15 phone lines, Freeman’s experienced record success when an important Chinese imperial-style ‘double dragon’ white jade seal was realized at just over $3.5 million. This Qing Dynasty seal, with a pre-sale estimate of $30,000-50,000, was sold to an in-room bidder by auctioneer and Asian department head Robert Waterhouse.

“The ‘imperial-style’ jade seal was, of course, very popular at exhibition and we knew it was going to do well, but only the bidders could determine whether or not it was truly imperial. The multi-million winning bid was an over-whelming validation for us,” said Asian Arts Associate Specialist Richard Cervantes,

Freeman’s President Paul Roberts commented from the phone-bid table, soon after the hammer fell, “this is not far from the total turnover for Freeman’s 12 years ago. The sale will have realized over $5 million by the time we are through, thus setting a new turnover record in a single day.”

Roberts may or may not have anticipated that results would in fact surpass $7 million.

Says Samuel “Beau” Freeman, Chairman, “We couldn’t be happier. It just goes to show that Philadelphia is an international hub, and that Freeman’s can produce results meeting and exceeding our competitors for choice pieces. It’s thrilling to be a part of an auction like this.”

Important imperial style 'double dragon' white jade seal. Qing dynasty 'treasure of concern over phenomena at eighty' . Photo courtesy Freeman's