Christie's

Buyers and sellers in collusion case set for $93.5m pay day

CHRISTIE’S International have raised the stakes in the frantically competitive post-War and Contemporary art markets by acquiring leading dealership Haunch of Venison.

CHRISTIE’S have announced that they are raising their 20 per cent buyer’s premium threshold from £100,000 ($200,000) to £250,000 ($500,000). The move matches that made by Sotheby’s in mid January.

Snowfall may be sparse across the Alps this season, but it didn’t stop the storm of buyers at the tenth annual ski poster sale at Christie’s South Kensington on January 18 from raising their paddles.

Helped by their stunning November series of New York art sales, Christie’s announced 2006 sales of £2.51bn including auction premiums. The figure – that includes more than £137m in private sales – is the highest in art auction history.

Christie’s confirmed their Paris dominance in 2006 by posting sales of €200.8m (£135m), up 74 per cent on the previous year.

THE end of 2006 sees the $160m Australian art and antiques auction market in a state of flux again. Chris Deutscher, one of the two main partners in the Menzies group, has announced his departure from the company. He intends to set up a rival firm by the new year.

The 21st century equivalent of an unknown masterpiece brought in to the front counter of a saleroom must be the treasure that surfaces on an auctioneer’s computer via a routine email.

Christie’s are to increase the number of European salerooms offering the Christie’s Live online bidding feature.

This Edgar Degas bronze owned by the late art dealer Lillian Browse has been saved for the nation in a deal brokered by Christie’s in lieu of inheritance tax. It follows a similar sale recently arranged by the auctioneers that saw the National Gallery acquire two works by Italian artist Giovanni Paolo Panini.

Son of Sir James Thornhill, brother-in-law to William Hogarth and serjeant painter to the King, John Thornhill was also a founder member of the Whig Beefsteak Club.

While many are still finding the market sluggish for standard English brown furniture, there is no shortage of demand at the top end as shown by results from the latest sales in London.

November saw the art market hit a new high as Christie’s capped a remarkable series of New York sales with a record $240m (£131m) for post-War and Contemporary art.

Feeding frenzy sets new record as bidders get their fill despite absence of Lloyd Webber Picasso

DAVID Linley has been appointed chairman of Christie’s UK, replacing co-chairmen Dermot Chichester and Charles Cator.

WHEN TEFAF Maastricht opens its doors next March, something will be different. An extraordinary sequence of events means that for the first time, the world’s two biggest auctioneers will effectively stand as exhibitors at the world’s most important fair for specialist dealers in fine art and antiques.

£57m Indian summer for auction rooms

CHRISTIE’S are to centralise all Italian sales in Milan and will concentrate on Contemporary and Modern art, Old Masters and jewellery.

“I leave to my dear friend Taffy my Compass so that he may occasionally know where he is going/ My Watch which almost cost me my life so that he may occasionally arrive at an appointed time / With Regards from his erstwhile passenger Lawrence.”

CHRISTIE’S are hoping to generate up to $140m for the four remaining works by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) that were part of the high-profile Bloch-Bauer restitution case.