A Beijing auction house on Tuesday sold a human-sized Labubu figure for 1.08 million yuan (US$150,260), setting a new record for the “blind box” toy as it moves from craze to collectible.
The event held by Yongle International Auction, which traditionally specializes in modern art as well as jewelry, marked the first-ever auction dedicated to Labubu, toothy monster figurines that are mainly sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart and have been at the center of a global frenzy for the past year.
The auction offered 48 lots for sale and was attended in person by about 200 people, while more than 1,000 bidders put down offers via Yongle’s mobile app, the auction house said.
Photo: AFP
The starting price for all the items was zero, while the lots sold for a combined 3.73 million yuan.
The highest grossing item, a mint green, 1.31m-tall Labubu figure, received several bids to sell for 1.08 million yuan.
The auctioneer said it was the only one available in the world.
A set of three Labubu sculptures, about 40cm tall and made of PVC material, sold for 510,000 yuan.
The set, from a series called “Three Wise Labubu,” was limited to a run of 120 sets in 2017 and another one sold for HK$203,200 (US$25,888) at Sotheby’s most recent auction in Hong Kong.
Labubu was created a decade ago by Hong Kong artist and illustrator Kasing Lung (龍家昇). In 2019, Lung agreed to let them be sold by Pop Mart, which markets collectable figurines often sold in “blind boxes.”
A buyer of a blind box toy does not know exactly what design they will receive until they open it.
The starting price for Labubu blind box toys sold in Pop Mart’s stores is about 50 yuan.
The character’s popularity skyrocketed after Lisa of the South Korean pop music group Blackpink was spotted with a Labubu, and praised the doll in interviews and online posts.
Many celebrities followed. In May, British soccer star David Beckham shared a photograph on Instagram of his Labubu attached to a bag.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
RSS