SOTHEBY’S AUTUMN 2007 SALES IN HONG KONG TOTAL HK$1.552 BILLION Today, Sotheby’s four-day Autumn series of sales (October 6-9, 2007) in Hong Kong concluded, totaling HK$1,552,412,500 (US$200,077,459)
HONG KONG.
· The auction was highlighted by the sale of a rare and magnificent white gold and emerald-cut diamond set Vacheron Constantin bracelet watch, which was competed for by six bidders both in the saleroom and on the telephones. After six minutes of frenzied bidding the watch finally sold to a bidder in the room for HK$5,479,500 (US$706,253) (est. HK$2-3 million), almost three times its pre-sale low estimate – AUCTION RECORD FOR A VACHERON CONSTANTIN “KING KALLA” and RECORD FOR A WRISTWATCH AT SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG.
· The sale had the highest average lot value (US$33,994) for any sale of Watches at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.
· The sale included over 164 lots.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium
NOTES FOR EDITORS
SOTHEBY’S ASIAN ART SALES WORLDWIDE (Including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian and Southeast Asian)
TOTALS IN US$
· 2007 $457.3 million (THE HIGHEST EVER FOR SOTHEBY’S)
· 2006 $341.1 million 35% increase over 2005
· 2005 $252 million 56% increase over 2004
· 2004 $161.3 million
· 2001 $66 million
SOTHEBY’S ASIAN ART SALES IN ASIA (including Chinese, and Southeast Asian – NOTE: excluding jewellery, watches and other sale categories)
· 2007 $294 million
· 2006 $188.3 million 17% increase over 2005
· 2005 $160.6 million 78% increase over 2004
· 2004 $90.3 million
· 2001 $35.2 million
SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG/NEW YORK CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART SALES TOTALS
· 2007 $133.7 million (90.1% increase on 2006)
· 2006 $70.3 million
· 2005 $14.3 million
· 2004 $ 2.9 million
· Hong Kong Contemporary Chinese Art Sales Total Breakdown by Season
Fall 2007 $42,542,754
Spring 2007 $27,439,598
Fall 2006 $21,937,334
Spring 2006 $16,999,516
Fall 2005 $9,019,398
Spring 2005 $5,270,511
Fall 2004 $2,950,712
TOTAL HONG KONG SALES GROWTH (2000-2007) IN HK$:
2007:
Spring - 1,050,075,500 Fall -1,552,412,500 TOTAL: 2,602,488,000
2006:
Spring - 841,976,320 Fall - 1,071,652,637 TOTAL: 1,913,628,957
2005:
Spring - 633,347,360 Fall - 850,883,400 TOTAL: 1,484,230,760
2004:
Spring - 445,552,240 Fall - 590,197,200 TOTAL: 1,035,749,440
2003:
Spring - 279,695,000 Fall - 348,112,640 TOTAL: 627,807,640
2002:
Spring - 283,752,804 Fall - 210,367,912 TOTAL: 494,120,716
2001:
Spring - 226,824,830 Fall - 401,904,370 TOTAL: 628,729,200
2000:
Spring - 374,119,850 Fall - 310,684,920 TOTAL: 684,804,770
FACTS ON SOTHEBY’S PRESENCE IN ASIA
· Sotheby’s was the FIRST auction house in Hong Kong, opening an office in 1973 and holding its first auction that same year
· Sotheby’s began holding sales of Chinese Contemporary Art in Hong Kong in 2004
· Sotheby’s was the FIRST and still is the ONLY international auction house to hold dedicated sales of Contemporary Asian Art in New York; Sotheby’s inaugural New York sale was in March 2006, following its opening a new department and appointing a specialist, Xiaoming Zhang, in the field
· In February 2007 Sotheby’s opened an office in Beijing
A SHORT HISTORY OF SOTHEBY’S:
Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s is the oldest and largest internationally recognised firm of fine art auctioneers in the world and is a global company that engages in art auction, private sales and art-related
