– The 319 year history of the London Tea Auction began in 1680.
– East India House in London conducted Tea Auctions for a period of 156 years from 1680 to 1835.
– The London commercial sale rooms in Mincina Lane housed the Tea Auctions from 1836 to 1935 – a period of 100 years.
– The Plantation House auditorium, London took over this Auction from 1936 up until 1970 – a period of 35 years.
– Sir John Lyon House, London subsequently conducted auctions from 1971 to 1990, for a period of 19 years.
– The London Chamber of Commerce was the last venue of this historic auction from 1990 to 1998.
– The last Charity Auction of the London Chamber of Commerce was held on Monday, June 29th, 1998 auctioning a mere 20 lots comprising of 229 packges of an assortment of Assam Orthodox and CTC, Darjeeling Orthodox, Ceylon Orthodox,, China Keemun, Kenya Orthodox and CTC tea.
– The highest price achieved was for the last lot which was a “Ceylon Hellbodde Orthodox Flowery Pekoe” which fetched a world recordprice of GBP 555 per kilo, and was purchased by Taylors of Harrowgate.
– The total proceeds of this Charity Auction were donated to the following charities :-
1) The Sir Percival Griffiths Planters Trust
2) The Planters Benevolent Fund of Ceylon
3) The Tea Trade Benevolent Society of London
– The Colombo Tea Auction remains the oldest and largest tea auction in the world.
ANSELM PERERA (MLESNA TEA CENTRES)
