The Chinese tycoon Liu Yiqian, 52, bought Italian artist
Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Reclining Nude’ after a frantic bidding war at a
Christie's auction in New York last week. But
his wife has revealed he will be paying for the $170.4million purchase
with his American Express Centurion card on a one-year payment plan - so
his family can fly for free with the points collected.
‘We are on a one-year payment plan for the painting,’ Wang Wei told the New York Times. ‘If we had to pay cash upfront, that would be a little difficult for us.’
She added: ‘I mean, who has the money for that?’
Last year, Liu used his AmEx to pay $36million for a 500-year-old Ming dynasty ceramic ‘chicken cup’.
According to Bloomberg News,
that purchase earned him 422million American Express points – which can
be used for more than 28million frequent flyer miles for Liu, his wife,
their four children and two grandchildren.
Based
on that figure, his latest purchase could see him earn up to two
billion points on his card - or 132million frequent flyer miles.
A
first-class round trip from London to New York costs 180,000 miles so
Liu would be able to take the trip 733 times. If he cared to fly coach,
he could make the round-trip 2,200 times.
However,
a spokesman for American Express declined to confirm to Daily Mail
Online exactly how many points or miles Liu's latest purchase will
earn.
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