New York - On September 8, Christie’s will launch its first ever sale dedicated exclusively to works by international contemporary designers. Offering collectors works fresh to the market by some of the most important designers living and working today, the sale will include pieces by Marc Newson, Forrest Myers, Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad, Maarten Baas, Shiro Kuramata, Ettore Sottsass and Harush Shlomo. With estimates ranging from $3,000 to $300,000, the tightly edited auction of 30 lots is expected to total $1.2-1.7 million.

New York, NY – Christie’s New York leads its fall season with the eighth edition of First Open on September 9, which includes over 230 lots of Post-War & Contemporary Art and is expected to realize in excess of $6-8 million. First Open displays another stunning array of works for this highly anticipated and successful sale. Highlights of the sale include an exciting assortment of paintings, sculpture, drawings and photographs from both well-known and emerging artists. With estimates ranging from $1,500 to $500,000, First Open is an exceptional opportunity to acquire works at a variety of price points, whether you are building an existing collection or starting anew.

LONDON - Sotheby’s sale of Old Master Paintings totaled £51,488,650 /$101,530,469/ €64,813,991 well in excess of the pre-sale estimate of £30.2-44.2 million. In a sale that attracted bidders from across the globe, 19 new artist’s records were established, with 58% of the lots sold realising prices in excess of high estimate. Two works sold for over £5 million, four for over $5 million, 13 for over £1 million, and 19 for over $1 million.

LONDON - The July 2008 Evening Sale of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s London achieved the phenomenal sum of £94,701,550 ($188,853,831) against a pre-sale estimate of £67.4 – 96.6 million, making it the most successful Summer sale of Contemporary Art in Europe. The sale had numerous high points throughout the evening, with records achieved for 11 different artists.

London – Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale took place this evening (30 June 2008) and realised £86,241,600 / $171,879,508 / €108,578,174 - the highest total for the category at Christie’s in Europe.  The top lot of the auction was Three Studies for a Self Portrait by Francis Bacon (1909-1992), a rare self-portrait triptych that the artist painted while in Paris in 1975, which sold for £17,289,250 / $34,457,475 / €21,767,166.