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Auctions

Auctions
Reporting on the latest auctions of luxury goods, including watches, handbags, high jewellery and fine art
“Grotto” by Nicholas Party is shown during the media preview on March 20, ahead of Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction. Photo: Nora Tam
Art

Christie’s and Sotheby’s Hong Kong auctions underwhelm as sales hit 6-year low

The world’s leading auction houses made a combined US$89.2 million, the lowest since autumn 2018, according to data from ArtTactic.

Art Basel

Seeing double: Picasso’s works at 2 major exhibitions in Hong Kong

Art Basel

Beyond Art Basel 2025: 5 events to check out during Hong Kong Art Week

Law

23andMe’s bankruptcy puts 15 million users’ DNA data on auction block

23andMe has proposed an auction in May for the sale of its assets, which include the genetic data of more than 15 million customers.

The 23andMe headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Photo: AFP
Art

Art sold at auction hits 15-year low, led by plunge in China market

A 63 per cent drop in art auction proceeds in China contributed to a one-third fall in global sales in 2024, to the lowest total since 2009.

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Art

Rare Banksy painting, owned by blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, heads to London auction

Crude Oil (Vettriano) is Banksy’s reimagining of 1992 painting The Singing Butler by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, who died on Monday.

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Technology

Opinion | Rather than resist AI art, Asia is embracing its future

While protests rage from New York to London, artists from China and Japan to India and Singapore are using AI to better their craft.

videocam
Robot Ai-Da and its creation, A.I. God, a portrait of Alan Turing, in this undated picture at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Major auction houses have been dabbling in AI art. Photo: EPA-EFE / Sotheby’s handout
Art

This sculpture was lost for a century – then auctioned for millions

Camille Claudel, a lover and muse of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, created the sculpture in the late 19th century – it was recently discovered in an abandoned flat.

Hong Kong economy

Buyers quick off mark as Hong Kong car plates ‘S’ and ‘88’ go for millions

‘S’ plate, a rare single-letter registration mark, fetches HK$14.2 million while “88” makes HK$11.4 million.

Classical music

Stradivarius violin could become most expensive music instrument ever sold

‘Joachim-Ma Stradivarius’ – which could fetch up to US$18 million – is named for two famed owners including late Chinese virtuoso Ma Si-Hon.

Classical US violinist Stefan Jackiw plays the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius violin during a preview of the instrument’s auction at Sotheby’s in New York on Monday. Photo: AFP
Special Report - Jewellery

High time: it takes savoir faire to make a true haute joaillerie watch

Haute joaillerie timepieces blend watchmaking prowess with fine jewellery artistry, setting such exemplars apart from more everyday gem-set pieces.

High jewellery models, like this 1989 Aura by Piaget, sold at auction in 2023. Photo: Christie’s
Special Report - Jewellery

Why the Paraiba tourmaline is jewellery’s rising star

Discovered in Brazil in the 80s, these stones are bringing new colour to high jewellery collections.

Timepieces

Is now the best time to invest in luxury watches? How to shop second-hand

The luxury watch market is cooling down after the pandemic-fuelled boom, offering an opportunity for collectors to snag coveted timepieces at more affordable prices.

Archaeology and palaeontology

Ancient stone tablet engraved with Ten Commandments sells for US$5 million

The high figure was notched despite questions around the slab’s authenticity, with some experts expressing doubts about its origins.

Sotheby’s workers hold what is said to be the oldest known inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments during a press preview in New York on December 9. Photo: AFP
History

Rare Roman coin sells for US$2.09 million at Geneva auction

Historic item was minted in 43-42 BC and features a portrait of Brutus, the assassin of Julius Caesar. It was originally priced at US$843,000.

A rare Roman gold coin is displayed at the Numismatica Genevensis (NGSA) auction house in Geneva. Photo: AFP
Fame and celebrity

Ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz sell for US$28 million

The shoes were stolen from a Michigan museum in 2005 and their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

Art

Exclusive | Hong Kong art photography fair cancelled months before its debut

Photofairs Hong Kong, slated for March 2025, scrapped by UK-based organiser because of unspecified ‘logistical constraints’.

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Formula One (F1)

Ex-Formula 1 chief Ecclestone selling Schumacher Ferrari in £300m car auction

Former Formula 1 boss is said to have world’s greatest collection of motor-racing machines, including cars driven by several world champions.

The Ferrari driven by Michael Schumacher when he won the third of his seven world titles will be part of the sale. Photo: Edmond So
Art

Scott Kahn was down and out. Then fellow artist Matthew Wong bought a work

When Matthew Wong revealed he had bought one of Kahn’s paintings, Hong Kong collectors took an interest. At 78, Kahn has first show in Asia.

Hong Kong property

Art houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s show off flashy new Hong Kong showrooms

The auction houses’ glammed up spaces are a reflection of their desire to change the way they conduct business.

Art

Duct-taped banana artist says US$6.2 million work a ‘provocation’

‘It invites us to reflect on the value of art’, Maurizio Cattelan says after Chinese entrepreneur buys work for US$6.2 million at auction.

A woman looks at Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped Banana entitled Comedian during a preview ahead of its auction for US$6.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York, on November 20, 2024. Photo: AFP
Special Report - Jewellery

Bidders set the bar high at Hong Kong’s buoyant autumn auctions

Results highlight the enduring appeal of exceptional pieces by iconic high jewellery maisons such as Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Find out about Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christie’s recent autumn auctions in Hong Kong, with Bonhams’ to be held on November 28. Pictured: A ruby and diamond ring with an estimate of HK$2 million to HK$3 million, going under the hammer at Bonhams. Photo: Handout
Art

Chinese crypto entrepreneur pays US$6.2 million for banana taped to wall

Sotheby’s confirmed that Justin Sun was the buyer of artist Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian sculpture at its auction yesterday.

Art

Hopes Magritte and Monet masterpieces can shake up stale auction market

Christie’s and Sotheby’s New York auctions this week also include works by Ed Ruscha and Keith Haring and one of Maurizio Cattelan’s bananas.

Art

Mark Rothko painting goes for 30% less than in 2015 in Hong Kong sale

Untitled (Yellow and Blue) by Mark Rothko, once owned by fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low, fetches US$33 million at Sotheby’s auction.

Mark Rothko’s 1954 painting Untitled (Yellow and Blue) is displayed at Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong ahead of its auction on November 11, 2024. Photo: Sotheby’s
Books and literature

Copy of The Little Prince worth US$1.25 million for sale at art fair

For sale in the UAE, the typescript, one of only three known to exist, contains handwritten corrections by author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

A rare typescript of The Little Prince, one of only three known copies, is going on sale for US$1.25 million at Abu Dhabi Art, an art fair that runs from November 20 to 24. Photo: Reuters
Art

Humanoid robot’s artwork of Alan Turing sells for US$1.3 million

Portrait by the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist smashed presale expectations of US$180,000.

Hong Kong

Why scientists have a bone to pick with dinosaur fossil in Hong Kong

Hector the Deinonychus highlights how, like works of art, fossils too can be sold to the highest bidder. That has palaeontologists worried.

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