Changing the equation

Abacuses are prominently displayed among the items at an antiques shop in Hainan province's capital Haikou after the device was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Shi Yan / for China Daily

 

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The abacus' recent World Heritage List induction may multiply its power to rack up larger figures among collectors. Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai.

While abacuses aren't big-ticket antique collector items, auction houses in China expect their value will rise following the traditional calculation device's inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Still, abacus collecting is unlike that of other antiques, such as ceramic and artworks.

"They're commonplace," Hosane Auctions Co Ltd's miscellaneous department expert Wang Kai, explains.

"Nearly every Chinese household has one."

Hosane was the only company in Shanghai that listed an abacus during its fall auction season.

The jade specimen from the 1950s sold for 5,175 yuan ($852) - far less than the 1967 postage stamp that went for more than 2.1 million yuan at the same sale.

"We only occasionally deal in abacuses, and the prices aren't high. The one that sold (at the fall auction), for example, was made to export to foreigners interested in Chinese culture."

Traditional culture doesn't value commerce as much as literature and art, Wang explains. The abacus has always been a practical tool, in contrast to the cultural and artistic connotations that impel the value of such objects as ink stones, fans and incense burners.

There are some fine jade abacuses. But the devices are usually made of wood, bamboo or ox horn. Gamblers and merchants sometimes wear tiny gold abacuses, which they believe coax prosperity.

Some specimens auction for big bucks but are few and far between, Wang says. He predicts the UNESCO listing will increase interest and prices.

Abacus collector Ge Xinhua opened Shanghai's first private museum devoted to the devices in his apartment's kitchen 12 years ago.

"The abacus' practical functions have been commandeered by the calculator," Ge says.

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