International auction house Sotheby’s has canceled an upcoming sale of rhino horn artifacts in Hong Kong and joined other companies like Bonhams in saying they will no longer list any goods containing rhino horn for sale regardless of its origin, Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday.
International auction house Sotheby’s has canceled an upcoming sale of rhino horn artifacts in Hong Kong and joined other companies like Bonhams in saying they will no longer list any goods containing rhino horn for sale regardless of its origin, Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday.
Three lots of antique rhino horn scheduled to be sold this week in Hong Kong have been withdrawn, AFP reported, following a decision by fellow British auction house Bonhams to cancel a sale of 21 lots worth an estimated $3.87 million and impose a prohibition of all future sales of rhino horn. AFP wrote:
According to the Hong Kong Free Press, “Bonhams’ rhino horn lot was made up of 17th to 18th century and Qing dynasty liberations cups, vases and vessels.”
Only five species of rhinos remain in the world today, and the IUCN Red List considers three of them (the black, Sumatran, and Javan rhinoceros) to be critically endangered. The white rhinoceros has made somewhat of a comeback but is still considered near threatened, while the Indian rhinoceros is considered vulnerable.
