National treasures: In this photo taken Tuesday, a security guard stands near wares salvaged from a wooden Chinese ship that sank more than 1,000 years ago in the Java Sea, on display in Pamulang, on the outskirts of Jakarta. A long awaited auction of the ancient treasures opened in the capital on Wednesday, but closed abruptly as there were no registered bidders. The auction, announced barely a week ago, had been expected to fetch at least $80 million for a collection of more than 270,000 pieces of valuable ceramic pots, jewelry and crystals dating back to the 10th century. JP - AP/Achmad Ibrahim
Going once, going twice, fail.
The highly anticipated — at least locally — auction of a 10th-century treasure trove valued at around $80 million flopped on Wednesday when not a single bidder bothered to show up.
Embarrassingly for local officials, the auctioneer was forced to abandon the auction at the Ministry of Fisheries in Central Jakarta just five minutes after it opened.
Adi Agung Tirtamarta, chief executive officer of PT Paradigma Putra Sejathera, the local partner of Belgian treasurer hunter Luc Heyman, said the failure indicated that it was clearly time for the government to revise its regulation requiring potential bidders to first pay a hefty deposit of $16 million, or 20 percent of the reserve price of $80 million.
Adi said the deposit requirement was unique to Indonesia.
A second auction is likely.
A 10th Century treasure from the wreck found off Cirebon, Java
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