Two antique Chinese snuff bottles fetched record prices of over $1 million each when they sold at auction to a Chinese real estate tycoon in Hong Kong, the auction house said.

The unnamed mogul paid a world top price of HK$9.06 million ($1.17 million) for an enamelled glass snuff bottle decorated with lotus flowers, commissioned by the eighteenth-century Qianlong Emperor.

A second porcelain bottle fetched HK$8.38 million ($1.08 million), with each fetching over four times their pre-sale estimate. Their mysterious new owner only began collecting snuff bottles this year, Bonhams auction house said in a statement, and has snapped up at least one more of a collection of 1,720 bottles being sold off through the auctioneers.

Snuff, or powdered tobacco administered directly into the nose, became popular in China after it was reportedly introduced in the 17th century by tradesmen and missionaries. Hong Kong has become the world’s third-largest auction hub after New York and London, according to Sotheby’s and Christie’s, thanks in large part to China’s growing economic might.