LOOK: Jose Rizal's Ateneo report card up for grabs starting at P350,000
Jose Rizal's 1876 report card from Ateneo Municipal de Manila is set to be auctioned off this month.
The report card, dated Sept. 20, 1876, is one of Rizal's personal belongings that made it to Salcedo Auctions' upcoming auction event, The Well-Appointed Life. It will take place on Sept. 27.
The document, with an estimated value of P350,000 to P400,000, is written in Spanish, and proves that the national hero took his studies seriously. The document shows Rizal was recognized with second honors for Historia Natural (Biology).
No one would have been prouder of this recognition than Rizal himself as, according to Ambeth Ocampo, he almost didn’t get into Ateneo. Not only was he late for registration, the Jesuits also thought he looked too small and frail to handle the severity of Jesuit education.
The report card that will be up for auction proved the Jesuits wrong. Rizal went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors. He was 16.
Aside from the document, Rizal's charcoal-on-paper artwork, Portrait of a European Gentleman, will also be auctioned off. Signed and undated, the piece is one of his last few surviving artworks.
He made this drawing while he was in Europe, demonstrating that he really was a jack—and master—of all trades.
While the estimated value of Portrait of a European Gentleman is available upon request, his other artworks that have been previously auctioned off may give a clue. In 2018, the bas relief sculpture The Filipino sold for P17,520,000; and in December 2024, Rizal’s sculpture Josephine Sleeping sold for P31,241,600.
The report card and the charcoal artwork were consigned by the descendants of one of Rizal’s sisters, Narcisa Rizal-Lopez (1852–1939).
