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.

In the first 6 months of 2008 alone, Christie’s International has achieved a sales figure of $3.8 billion (£1.8 billion). The figure represents 10% growth in their worldwide sales compared to the first half of 2007 and 63% year on year sales growth in Asia. The total includes private sales of $301 million (£153 million) brokered by Christie’s so far this year as well as sales by its subsidiary gallery, Haunch of Venison.
Across the world during this period, Christie’s salesrooms have seen 457 works leave for more than $1 million, which compares favorably with the 430 sold in the first six months of last year.
Sales from the post-war and contemporary art department registered as Christie’s second most successful niche, bringing in $800 million (£408 million) between January and June this year. The figure registered just behind impressionist and modern art sales, which achieved $974 million (£497 million).
Chief executive officer of Christie’s International, Edward Dolman, commented, “Christie’s robust results for the first half of 2008 reflect the ongoing strength of the international art market […] Christie’s ability to source the rarest, most beautiful and impressive works of art in all categories underpins our continued art market leadership and success. Collectors across the globe have remained active and confident, despite more uncertain economic conditions in some regions. Christie’s extensive international network has introduced an increasing number of buyers to the international art market from growth markets including Russia and the CIS states, the Middle East, India and China.”

The breakdown reads as follows:

Europe with UK: £837 million/$1.6 billion
King Street, London: £643 million/$1.3 billion
South Kensington: £41 million/$80 million
Paris: £68 million/$132 million
United States: £631 million/$1.2 billion
Asia with Middle East: £179 million/$351 million
Dubai: £20 million/$39 million

	HENRY MOORE FIGURE Estimate: 600.000 - 800.000 GBP Price Raalized: 825.250 GBP (1.036.355 EUR) Sotheby’s - London 15 July 2008
	HERBERT JAMES DRAPER BY SUMMER SEAS Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 GBP Price Realized: 337,250 GBP Sotheby’s - London 15 July 2008

Last 1st June the world of fashion came to a halt to commemorate the death of Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer considered one of the greatest fashion creators of the twentieth century who started his career at the Christian Dior maison to then found the homonymous label (Yves Saint Laurent) with his life and business partner Pierre Bergè.
His mark in the world of fashion and luxury remains recognizable and his name will always be symbol of style, becoming symbol of sophisticated but also innovative elegance.

Christie’s International will restart its Asian wine auctions in Hong Kong after a seven-year break as record sales by rivals like Bonhams show the city’s demand for the collectible beverage is rising.
The 250-lot sale on Nov. 29 may fetch as much as 2 million euros ($3.1 million), the London-based auction house said. Christie’s will offer 150 lots of Latour, including a 1961 imperiale estimated at as much as HK$600,000 ($77,000), the first time a Chateau has auctioned wine directly in Asia, Christie’s said.
Hong Kong abolished duties on wine in February to help capture a slice of the market for trading and storing wine from London, where most Asian collectors keep their rare vintages. Since then, Bonhams and New York-based Acker Merrall & Condit Co. have held wine sales in the city that beat sales estimates.
“The change in the tax spurred our decision to return”, said Kate Malin, Christie’s Hong Kong-based spokeswoman. “The time is right considering Asia’s economy is where it is now”.
Asian wine consumption rose 60 percent to $7.4 billion from 2002 to 2007, according to Hong Kong’s trade development board. In the same period, U.S. demand increased by a quarter to $18.5 billion while Europe’s fell to $58 billion from $61 billion.
Hong Kong’s move to scrap the wine tax is spurring trade in the beverage. In May, about 8,000 people visited Vinexpo Asia- Pacific, a record for the region’s biggest wine and spirits show.
Christie’s holds biannual auctions in Hong Kong, its third- largest market after New York and London. Its May auction of antiques, gems and paintings fetched a record HK$2.4 billion. Wine accounted for about 1 percent of Christie’s global sales last year.
Separately, Acker said it will hold its second wine auction in Hong Kong this year in November. The sale, featuring star lots like an original wood case of 1989 Petrus in double magnums with a top estimate of HK$600,000, may fetch HK$50 million, Acker said. (Bloomberg)

The two Old Master sessions in London have proved the good trend of the sector, confirming the positive results achieved by Christie’s in the last days. Sales almost totalled 51.5 million pounds and 76.7% of the lots were sold, 93% if we consider their value. The evening sale achieved the second highest profits ever for the sector, with a 42% increase compared to last year’s sales. It is also the second total takings of an Old Master auction ever to be realized in Europe. During the auction, nineteen new records were established and twenty lots were sold for more than a million dollars.

	JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU LA SURPRISE Estimate: n.a. Price Realized: 12,361,250 GBP Christie’s - London 08 July 2008
	FRANS HALS PORTRAIT OF WILLEM VAN HEYTHUYSEN Estimate: 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 GBP Price Realized: 7,097,250 GBP Sotheby’s - London 09 July 2008

After fetching high prices for a trio of Goya sketches earlier in the day, auction house Christie’s also found success selling a nearly 300-year-old painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau later Tuesday.
The Flemish-born, French artist’s 18th-century work La Surprise, long believed destroyed, sold for $24.9 million Cdn during the second half of Christie’s Old Masters sale in London.
It was the highest-ever price paid at auction for a French Old Master painting, according to the auction house.
Experts believe Watteau painted La Surprise around 1718, likely around the same time as another work, L’Accord Parfait, with both destined for his close friend Nicolas Henin, who was an adviser to King Louis XV.
Last seen in 1848, La Surprise was rediscovered just last year while Christie’s officials were valuing work at a home in the British countryside.

LONDON — Three sketches by Goya, presumed lost for 130 years, sold today for about $8 million.
Christie’s says the sketches first went up for sale in Paris in 1877 and were presumed lost, until a private Swiss collector contacted the auction house about them.
The sketch titled “Bajar Rinendo” or “They Go Down Quarrelling” – which depicts four women fighting as they fall through the air – sold in London for about $4.6 million.
The other two sketches depict a constable stitched inside a dead horse and a wide-eyed man praying in front of a cross.
All the prices include the buyer’s premium.
The sketches come from the private notebooks of Goya, who worked in the Spanish courtly tradition but is also known for the fantastic, dark and often disturbing works he painted later in his career. During the last three decades of his life, the Spanish artist used the notebooks to draw people in various moods and situations. Goya died in 1828.
Previous art auctions by Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses have shown the art market remains strong despite the global economic downturn.
A Monet water lily painting sold for more than $78 million in June, setting a record for the most expensive work of art ever sold by Christie’s in Europe. Sotheby’s sold a portrait by Francis Bacon for $26.9 million during its contemporary art week. Both works sold for well over their estimated values.