Examples of the objects that are put on auction at Gresham's in Hong Kong. (Credit: Gresham's)

Tourists in Hong Kong now have the opportunity to take home more than just a Chinese teapot or fake designer handbag as a souvenir. Gresham's auction house is giving foreigners the chance to bid on rare antiques -- the sort that might be displayed in museums elsewhere -- at affordable prices. The pieces have withstood the tests of time for hundreds of years and will now be transported all over the world to new homes.

According to the BBC, one of the rarest items on sale at an August auction was a Chinese dragon robe from the 1880s, once owned by an Imperial Duke. Other items auctioned off to the highest bidder included Chinese silk skirts, a Turkmen carpet and a Sinkiang carpet, with the items coming from all over China, Tibet, the Middle East and Central Asia.

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Owned and operated by art collector Steve Freeman, Gresham's offers pieces in the range of HK$1,000 to HK$10,000 (around $130 to $1,300), says the South China Morning Post. As far as priceless relics go, that puts Gresham's in the middle of the market, below places like Sotheby's and above GeoExpat. The goal of the auction house, according to its website, is to open the world of auctioning to the general public.

Next time you're in Hong Kong, be sure to check out any upcoming auctions -- you might just take home a beautiful work of art or piece of furniture from hundreds of years ago.

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