Results: Christies Hong Kong Sales

Le-Min Lim of Bloomberg reports on the past weeks sales of Oriental art, collectibles,m jewelery and wine at Christie's in Hong Kong. The sales results, based on the recent past sales in Hong Kong were expected to be good, but the results even beat expectations.  The pre sale high estimate for the numerous sales Christie's sales were 1 billion Hong Kong dollars or close to $130 million.  The total of the sales were HK $1.65 billion or, nearly $213 million. The wine and jewelry were particularly strong sales. The article also states that the hard hit Chinese contemporary art segment was starting to see signs of growth as well.  The collecting appetite of the mainland Chinese buyers seems to be extremely strong, especially for quality items. Many of the buyers are willing to pay higher than usually prices for quality property, with the expectation that prices will continue to rise in the future.  Many of the Chinese see quality art as an excellent investment.

Lim reports

Mainland Chinese buyers are taking over from Americans and Europeans at the top end of the multi-billion-dollar Chinese antiques market. Some Western buyers cut back on purchases in the credit crisis. Liu, who made his fortune buying stocks, benefited from China’s government spending program, which kept the economy growing and sent the Shanghai stock-market 80 percent higher this year.

“The Chinese bidders are easy to underestimate because they seem so low-key,” Eric Huang, a Taipei-based art buyer and dealer, said in an interview, “but they are the crouching tigers of the art-auction market with phenomenal buying power.” Huang paid HK$15.8 million for an oil painting by Zao Wou-ki at Sotheby’s October sale in Hong Kong. “Many wealthy Chinese I spoke with say they are buying art to beat inflation,” Huang said.

China’s central bank said last month that the nation’s consumer price index, which measures inflation, will turn positive in the fourth quarter as well as next year.

“With one-of-a-kind artworks, one can keep them for a few years and expect to sell at a much higher price later, so wealthy Chinese like Liu don’t mind paying,” said Huang. Liu declined to comment and Wang said she’s buying “for the love of art.”

To read the full article, click HERE.