Art collector amasses 421 million AmEx points from purchase

Sotheby's says Liu Yiqian's winning bid for the 'Chicken Cup' was a world record for Chinese porcelain. Photo: AAP.

Shanghai-based collector Liu Yiqian paid a record sum of $36.3 million for the Ming Dynasty Meiyintang ‘Chicken Cup’, but it was how he coughed up the cash that was most surprising.

Liu paid for his purchase in several transactions, using his Centurion Card, an American Express, invite-only credit card.

Before settling the finances, Liu celebrated his purchase by sipping on tea from the white porcelain cup, which was made during the reign of the Chenghua Emperor between 1465 and 1487.

[[img:24521266|Caption= The 'Chicken Cup' features a rooster and chicken. Photo: Sotheby's.]

Nicolas Chow, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, told Bloomberg that Liu had to sign off on 24 separate credit card transactions because the system only accepted up to HK $12 million per transaction.

The surprise came not from the rare sale of the ‘Chicken Cup’ but the 421 million American Express points Liu amassed in the process.

According to the report, Liu’ daughter said her father used his credit card because of currency restrictions between China and Hong Kong, where the auction took place.

The 'Chicken Cup'. Photo: Sotheby's.

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Ms Liu says he father hadn’t even considered the rewards that came from paying by credit card.

But he should probably start investigating, because according to American Express, he could cash in on 28 million frequent flyer air miles.

To put this in perspective, Liu could use his points to fly from Hong Kong to London - and back - 93 times.