The Miss Hong Kong (香港小姐競選) pageant has always been a venerated competition, with plenty of perks. However, the Miss Hong Kong crown might just be its most valuable— monetary-wise.
Beauties may turn heads during the pageant, but nothing catches one’s eye more than the head that bears the crown. And this year, said Miss Hong Kong crown happens to be worth a whopping HK$ 3 million (~RM1.7 million), leaving us wondering who has their eyes on the prize.
The Miss Hong Kong crown, carefully designed and studded with diamonds, is a real eyecatcher. But, during its early days under TVB in the 1980s, the crown was actually made of glass, making it less valuable than its successors in later years. It wasn’t until 1995, when the pageant received sponsorship, that they introduced the first diamond studded crown.
Won by Winnie Young (楊婉儀), the crown made of platinum and 1,197 diamonds was estimated to be worth HK$ 1.4 million (~RM830,000) at the time. Succeeding crowns in later years continuously became more impressive and valuable thanks to Lukfook Jewelery who became the pageant crown’s sponsor in 1997.
In fact, in 2015 and 2016, the crowns were reportedly worth over HK$ 4.28 million (~RM2.5 million), making both Louisa Mak (麥明詩) and Crystal Fung (馮盈盈) very lucky ladies! According to reports, it’s equivalent to a regular Hong Kong office worker’s salary of 18 years. Others have also marveled that such an amount allows one to buy a house with the full purchase price.
Regretfully, Lukfook Jewelery notably stopped sponsoring the Miss Hong Kong crown after the pandemic. As such, some believe the 2020, 2021 and 2022 crowns were not worth as much as their predecessors. However, this year’s crown sponsored by Fuman Lin Jewelry is reportedly worth HK$ 3 million (~RM1.7 million), which is still quite an amount for 2023.
Most Miss Hong Kong winners have cherished their crowns, but not all have clung to them. 1996 winner Lee San-san (李珊珊) has auctioned hers off and gifted the proceeds to charity while Winnie Young was forced to use hers as loan collateral during a lawsuit.
Still, majority of Miss Hong Kong winners agree; the crown is priceless thanks to the meaning it carries for each of them. As Miss Hong Kong 1985 Charlene Tse once explained, the crown’s value lies in the honour, social status and memories gifted by the pageant.
It hasn’t been an easy time for Miss Hong Kong this year, with participants continuously withdrawing. And it seems finalist Michelle Poa might be facing a new struggle, due to her latest controversy. Regardless, we wish the girls all the best for the finals on 27th August!
Sources: HK01, 就酱Young, Jayne Stars
