Christie's Says London Auction Sales Could Jump 67% in February

[Robbien]

Source: Bloomberg

Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Christie's International Chief Executive Officer Edward Dolman said the company's February auctions in London are valued at 67 percent more than last year's, indicating continuing growth in art sales.

. . .

Art sellers are flocking to the market as bank losses mount on subprime mortgages and other investments.

. . .

``At the moment the outlook for 2008 looks very strong indeed,'' Dolman said today. ``We're seeing continued growth in consignments, and we have to hope that when we've got great products, we'll have the buyers.''

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aiLtsnXrt_O4&refer=home

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Strange. From the upbeat tone of the whole article, it was hard to see the basic point was that more people are putting their possessions up for auction. Doesn't seem upbeat to me.

[CK_John]

1. Pawn shops do great during a depression. This one is just on a higher income scale.n/t

[TomClash]

4. Not sure I'd call Christie's a pawn shop

This means the upper class has plenty of cash . . . but many will go hungry, lose their jobs and homes, confront illness without adequate health care.

I smell the odd whiff of betrayal. We'll have to do something about that.

[thunder rising]

7. The rich are selling to the richer ...hmmm wonder how many Iraq treasures will be available?

[Dora]

2. I agree.

My first thought was that the wealthy are liquidating assets that will have a predictable decline in demand the next several years.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

3. As long as the buyers aren't banks.

[demnan]

5. All the CEO's will stock up

n/t

[kelligesq]

6. The rich are not trusting currency so theyre buying art that will increase in value every year

these people spend 1 to 23 million ballpark for famous works of art, see.

Apparently they like to look at a beautiful painting or statue by a famous name
Michelangelo, Picasso etc more than looking at a bar of gold which might be boring for them after awhile since they have so many gold bars.

[jlake]

8. The super rich are doing fine... .but the rich are starting to hurt.

[bagrman]

9. Cash poor , they have bills to ya know.