Monday 21 May 2007

Mystery buyers spend up big!

Christie's and Sotheby's had big art auctions in New York recently. Click on this link to read about Christie's record-breaking sale, including the $71.7 million Warhol painting:
Auction History - New York Times
Then you can click on this link - Sotheby's - New York Times - to read about the Sotheby's sale. This was not quite as successful as Christie's (heads will roll!), but massive nonetheless, with $72.8 million for a Mark Rothko alone.
Doesn't the NYT love the concept of the 'mystery buyer'! Each sale had one: one simply had a beard (the new Rothko owner), while the other was a telephone bidder rumoured to be from Hong Kong.
And the references to 'new money' are cute: the emergence of big-spending collectors in Russia, as well as their continuing presence in Asia, obviously fuels this fascination for the mystery buyer.

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