Christie's

SERIOUS levels of demand emerged for works at the very top end of the art market as this month’s flagship Impressionist and Modern art auction series raised a combined hammer total of £225.8m, massively up on the £108.8m for the equivalent series last year.

MAJOR American museums played an active role as both buyers and sellers in the latest Old Master sales in New York.

CHRISTIE’S have announced a 24 per cent year-on-year fall in sales for 2009 to £2.1bn.

CHRISTIE’S have made a number of changes to their senior management in Asia, the US, the UK and Europe.

FRANÇOIS Curiel, who has established Christie’s as France’s leading auction house during his nine years in charge in Paris, is to replace Andrew Foster as President of Christie’s Asia. Curiel will be based in Hong Kong but remains International Head of Jewellery and boss of Christie’s Geneva.

IRISH silver carries its own cachet and, as in England and Scotland, pieces with rare provincial hallmarks are always more sought-after.

A COPY of A Christmas Carol has now knocked Oliver Twist off the top of the tree to become the most expensive Dickens title ever sold at auction.

The latest Old Master sales in London underlined the importance for auctioneers of securing the best works by major names.

THE inaugural ATG Online Auctioneer of the Year award has gone to Christie’s South Kensington.

THE Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé sale mark II was never going to be in the same league as the 374m euros spring extravaganza.

THE latest series of contemporary art auctions in New York provided some further evidence of confidence returning at the top end of the market.

CHRISTIE’S have launched a one-stop insurance service for UK private clients, taking in all their insurance requirements in a single-payment policy package.

AMONG the more run-of-the-mill furnishings that constitute the bulk of the popular Interiors sales at Christie’s South Kensington, there are often a handful of more quirky items.

A DETAILED examination of Laura Knight's 1915 oil Carnaval by Christie's specialist Tom Rooth revealed the edge of not one but two stretched canvases.

THE new auction season kicked off in earnest in New York with one of the strongest market sectors – Asian works of art.

IN January next year, Christie’s are planning to open a high-tech storage facility in New York.

Christie’s have announced a premium-inclusive £1.2bn ($1.8bn) in sales for the first six months of 2009, down 35 per cent on the same period last year, when results were £1.8bn ($3.5bn).

CHRISTIE’S have launched legal action against US Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor. Minor took Christie’s to court last December, accusing the auction house of fraud and a number of other torts after pictures he consigned to Christie’s dealership Haunch of Venison in May 2008 were not returned “in a timely fashion” when they failed to sell.

In terms of the bottom line, Christie’s latest Hong Kong HK$1.07bn (£83.5m) premium-inclusive Asian series was a far cry from the firm’s record-breaking HK$2.4bn (then £162.2m) extravaganza last year.

CHRISTIE’S Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) have announced that they will open a new facility at The Singapore Freeport in January 2010, offering a secure tax-free location for the storage and transaction of fine art and antiques.