A handwritten calligraphy piece by Hoam, Lee Byung-chul, the founding chairman of Samsung, was sold for the hefty sum of 1 billion won at an art auction.
According to the art auction house K Auction on the 21st, in a premium online auction that closed that day, the brush calligraphy piece "Gongsurae Gongsugo (空手來空手去)" kept by the culture monthly magazine Samto—created by the chairman—was finally hammered down at 1 billion won.
The estimated transaction price for the piece, which opened bidding at 15 million won, was between 19 million won and up to 40 million won. However, since the online auction began on the 11th, multiple bids continued through the day, and it sold for 1 billion won—2.5 times higher than the top of the estimate. The winning bidder was not specifically disclosed.
The piece was a gift the chairman, in 1981, gave with heartfelt regard to former National Assembly Speaker Kim Jae-sun, who founded the monthly magazine Samto. It later hung in the chairman of the board's office at Samto. But as Samto, due to management difficulties, decided to suspend publication indefinitely after releasing its January issue this year, the work also came onto the auction market.