CHRISTIE’S LEADS THE FINE WINE AUCTION MARKET Christie’s International Wine Department reports its best year ever, with a global total of $71,647,944/₤36,003,991/€52,925,868
News-Antique.com - Dec 20,2007 - $71.6 Million Total Marks A 22% Increase Over 2006 Figure
Record Sales Seasons in Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Geneva
New York, London – Christie’s International Wine Department reports its best year ever, with a global total of $71,647,944/₤36,003,991/€52,925,868. With an unrivalled network of international sale centers that span across two continents, the 2007 figure places the Department firmly at the front of the international wine auction market.
Across the United States and Europe, 39 sales were conducted across nine sale locations in 2007 – in New York, Los Angeles, London King Street, London South Kensington, Paris, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Geneva and Amsterdam. The only auctioneer to offer sales on both coasts of the United States and in four European nations, Christie’s continues to provide collectors the widest and most regular international auction schedule.
David Elswood, International Head of Christie’s Wine Department, says: "This has been an exceptional year for Christie's wine sales. Against the background of a healthy and rising global market for fine wine, we have seen new auction total records established in Los Angeles, Geneva and Amsterdam and great strength in our London, New York and Paris salerooms. With our biggest ever sales total of $71.6 million, Christie's comfortably consolidates its position as the world's leading international auction house for wine."
Twenty-nine sales were held in Europe totaling $44,427,157/₤22,325,204/€32,818,050, marking a remarkable 45% increase in turnover from 2006. The top lot of the year was a 12-bottle case of 1961 Hermitage, La Chapelle that sold at London King Street in September for ₤123,750, setting a new world auction record for a case of Rhône wine and for any wine case sold in Europe.
European auctions in 2007 saw record sales in Geneva and Amsterdam, the continued success and growth of the Hospices de Beaune auction with Christie’s LIVE™ real-time internet bidding, and the successful VinExpo sale in Bordeaux in June.
Christie’s Americas held 10 sales in 2007 totaling $27,220,787/₤13,678,787/€20,107,818, with the Beverly Hills saleroom in Los Angeles accounting for 50% of annual sales. The top lot of the year was also sold in Los Angeles, 30 dozen bottle cases of 1986 Château Mouton-Rothschild that realized $288,000.
American auctions in 2007 included four evening sales, including Rarities from the Cellars of Mähler-Besse in New York, and The Quintessential Modern Cellar in Los Angeles. The Grand Crus Part II: Finest and Rarest Wines From The Superlative Collection of Christen Sveaas was a definitive highlight of the year, and the total of $6.8 million helped Los Angeles reach its highest annual sales figure since opening in 1998. And the first auction of spirits in New York City since Prohibition was held in December, and the selection totaled $304,800, including $54,000 for a bottle of The Macallan, 1926.
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About Christie’s
Christie’s is the world's leading art business with global auction sales in 2006 that totalled £2.51 billion / $4.67 billion. Worldwide sales for the first half of 2007 totalled £1.63 billion / $3.25 billion, an increase of 32% by £
