"CSK offered dealers and collectors sale upon sale of interesting pieces at a time when the antiques scene was becoming more exciting by the day. It was a place where top dealers mixed with market traders: where you could spend thousands or a few pounds. It was irresistible."
Constance King, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
"It not only leaves a large hole in that part of Kensington with collateral damage to other businesses but it is profoundly depressing that one of the most agreeable cultural destinations in London is no more. Whatever the motive, closing CSK has left London a poorer place."
Algy Cluff, CSK client
"CSK was by far the most glamorous saleroom in London. I will never forget ‘partying’ there with the late John Hurt or when I met and chatted forever with Lucian Freud. I have been to many great CSK parties where royalty rubbed champagne flutes with barrow boys. Those rooms had a magic about them."
Jamie Dillon, Visage Gallery
"We would rather CSK was still there. Closures take confidence away from the trade as a whole. But if there is a gap to fill, we are already on their doorstep."
Nick Carter, senior auctioneer, Lots Road
"It is very sad but we have benefitted. For smaller items such as jewellery and silver we have seen custom come in over the recent months when CSK started to wind down."
Ian Towning, Bourbon Hanby Arcade
"I can see why this has happened. The money men have said: two salerooms in the same city with the number of sales decreasing no longer makes economic sense. But it sends a terrible message to the core clientele, many of whom come to collecting through that saleroom. Not everyone is an Asian billionaire."
James Roundell, Dickinson
"Dealers will certainly miss it. Although most of the trade considered South Ken a retail auction for private buyers, its loss represents something else. It is another weave in the tapestry of the antiques and art trade that has gone."
Tony Wilkinson, TG Wilkinson, Petworth
"Executors of an estate expect an auction house to deal with the entire contents. Christie’s in London will in the future find it difficult to offer this service."
Anthony Coleridge, former chairman of Christie’s South Kensington
"Christie’s South Ken’s importance was its central position in creating markets and expanding them. It was key to popularising antiques and collecting at a time when the collector or enthusiast only had a single episode of Antiques Roadshow on a Sunday night to satiate their interest."
Michael Jeffery, Woolley & Wallis and former decorative arts specialist at CSK
"It has been a very painful decision but for the long-term health of the business, it is right."
Orlando Rock, Christie’s UK chairman
