A private museum covered with some 700 million porcelain shards will be auctioned in August, as the owner is currently bogged down in an economic dispute.

The museum, also known as China’s Porcelain House, was opened and renovated by Zhang Lianzhi, a Chinese businessman and porcelain collector in Tianjin in 2007. Zhang spent ten years turning a former French-style building with a history of 100 years into a porcelain-covered edifice, covering the architecture with over 700 million ancient porcelain shards, more than 13,000 antique chinaware, and hundreds of pieces of vintage furniture, according to Beijing News.

The controversial renovation has been boycotted by many organizations and scholars, who accused Zhang of destroying a historic cultural relic. The museum’s bizarre appearance has also drawn pungent criticisms from the public, with many calling the Porcelain House “a shame and failure in the history of Chinese architecture.” Despite the public odium, the museum has attracted many visitors both from China and abroad, securing a position on many tourism websites as one of Tianjin’s most famous scenic spots.

But as famous as it is, the house still cannot elude the fate of being auctioned due to Zhang’s debt problems. In June, a Tianjin court issued an announcement to auction the Porcelain House by the end of July, but later postponed the date to Aug. 8. According to Beijing News, the local court assessed the building minus the porcelain decoration at 140 million RMB, while Zhang’s company assessed the architecture alone at 330 million RMB and the porcelain decoration at around 9.8 billion RMB. Based on an agreement signed by Zhang and the court, the auction will not include the porcelain decoration.

The whopping price of the porcelain decorations has stirred up a controversy online. In response to public doubt over the decoration’s true value, Zhang said all the porcelain shards are authentic ancient art crafts, adding that anyone who can find a modern counterfeit will be offered 100,000 RMB as a prize.

Zhang’s claim has been denounced by many experts who said that a large number of the museum’s porcelain decoration is modern art crafts that have little historic significance. Bian Zhengming, a renowned connoisseur in porcelain art, told the Beijing Times that the Porcelain House does not possess valuable ancient porcelain art crafts, adding that many of the porcelain shards are modern counterfeits.

“The museum’s porcelain decoration will become ancient stuff after [another] 200 years,” said Bian.

Neither Zhang nor the local court could be reached for comment.