Asia

A NEW live auction platform which will give UK auctioneers direct access to Chinese bidders has been launched in Beijing.

COLLECTABLES specialists Stanley Gibbons have opened a new office in Hong Kong in a bid to stake a claim in the Asian market for coins, military medals, stamps and historical documents.

IT took 50 bids and half an hour to auction this RMB370m (£35m) scroll, by Qi Baishi (1864-1957) at Beijing's China Guardian on May 22 – the latest demonstration of the breadth of mainland demand for modern Chinese paintings by the country's most acclaimed artists.

SOTHEBY’S latest Asian series represented an all-time high for the firm in Hong Kong.

CHINA’s fourth largest auction house, the Beijing Council International Auction Company, have opened an office in the US with the aim of sourcing material to sell in mainland China.

CHINA has pushed the United Kingdom into third place as a player in the world art market and is now second only to the United States.

DEMAND for fine wines showed no sign of abating at the latest round of auctions in Hong Kong.

THE world auction record for a Chinese ceramic of work of art toppled during Sotheby's latest week-long Asian sales series of classical, modern and contemporary Chinese art, watches, wine and jewellery in Hong Kong.

EXPERIMENTAL technology designed to determine the age of ceramics by scientific means is now being put to use at the heart of the Chinese works of art trade.

A SERIES of guidelines designed to encourage standard and proper practice in the fine art auction industry in China were unveiled on June 31. They are the first measures of their type since sales by auction were permitted to resume in the People’s Republic 23 years ago.

BEIJING auctioneers Poly established a new milestone for Chinese art on June 3 selling a 38ft (15m) long calligraphic hand scroll by a Song Dynasty master for RMB390m ($57.4m) plus 12 per cent buyer's premium.

WHAT a difference a year can make. At the start of 2009 vendors shaken by the economic climate were reticent to consign to the major houses’ Hong Kong sales. But, a series of strong international Chinese sales during the latter half of last year restored market confidence.

BEIJING-based auction house China Guardian has published record sales results for 2009.

WHAT the latest Asian auction series in Hong Kong lacked in terms of headline-grabbing 18th century Imperial blockbusters, it more than made up for in solid performances across the board.

CHINA is to encourage the return of its cultural heritage by offering overseas collectors “reasonable compensation”.

DEUTSCHE Bank have signed a five-year deal to sponsor ART HK, the Hong Kong art fair which launched in 2008.

SOTHEBY’S latest Hong Kong Asian series saw mainland Chinese buyers come of age in the field of Imperial Chinese art.

ATG's www.the-saleroom.com launches the first live internet bidding sale in Beijing this Friday. The Seasonal Sale at Huachen Auctions offered an online catalogue in both English and Chinese via the-saleroom's online platform.

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.

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.