Record High Bids During Hong Kong Auction Week, Highlighting Wealth Surge

Chrissy Coleman

27 November 2012

As if to underscore the rising wealth of the region, auction records were broken by Asian and international big spenders who were out in full force last week, battling to outbid each other for the extravagances displayed by the world’s biggest auction houses in Hong Kong.

Christie’s saw two world records established at its autumn season, Asian 20^th century and contemporary art sale, held at the Hong Kong Convention Centre.

La forêt blanche II by 20^th Century Chinese artist Chu Teh-Chun sold for $7,784,594 and Abstract Triptych by Singaporean artist Cheong Soo-Pieng sold for $547,334.

The UK auctioneer’s three sales of the season achieved $87,492,378 in total, and sold in excess of 81 per cent by lot and 93 per cent by value. Among the 39 lots that were snapped up, 11 sold in excess of $1,297,000, and two thirds of the total number of lots went for over the high estimate.

“This season we expanded the quantity and range of art offered at our sales. This led to increased international and new buyer participation, resulting in a high sold through rate, as well as a growth in sales,” Eric Chang, international director of Asian 20^th century and contemporary art at Christie’s, said in a statement.

“In the spirit of our theme of `East meets West,’ we witnessed truly cross-cultural buying, including European buying of Southeast Asian works and Japanese buying of Vietnamese art. These results are testament to Christie's ambition over more than ten years to diversify our buyer base by bringing the markets in Asia and the West closer together and promoting globally the appeal of Asian Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art,” Chang added.

Just around the corner from the HK Convention Centre, Poly Auction, the world's fourth-largest auction house after Christie's, Sotheby's and China Guardian, according to Art Market Trends 2011 by Artprice, held its sales at the Grand Hyatt hotel Hong Kong,

The auctioneer sold its top item, ink painting "Two Tibetan Ladies With Dogs," by 20th-century master Zhang Daqian, to an Asian collector for $5.42 million - over four times the high pre-sale estimate.

Meanwhile, at its “Eight Exceptional Jewels from a Private Collection” sale, another auction giant, Bonhams, set a world record for a 43 carat sapphire and diamond ring by Van Cleef and Arpels, selling for over $1.55million.

Bonham’s also made headlines for hosting the first Leica vintage camera sale in Hong Kong, breaking an auction world record for a rare Leica Luxus 1, which sold for close to $1 million.

Jon Baddley, head of collectables at Bonhams, said after the sale that the results more than justify the group’s belief in the idea of bringing these unique cameras to China, which according to Baddley, has a rapidly emerging market for these rare items. “We took a bit of a gamble but it has paid off handsomely. Already we can see that this market is outstripping New York and London," Baddley said in a statement.