Money

Mainland buyers push Christie's HK auction to $294m

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-03 15:41
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Paintings, imperial Chinese treasures and gems were auctioned for HK$2.29 billion ($294 million) in Hong Kong, the second-highest tally for a sale in the city, with mainland buyers paying top dollar for the rarest items.

Of the 2,548 lots offered during the six-day Christie's International auction, 85 percent sold. The most-expensive item was a 500 year-old bronze statue of the Amitayus Buddha that was sold for HK$70 million to London dealer Richard Littleton, who outbid about five other Chinese contenders for the antique.

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"Chinese buying of antiques is still very strong and people there are getting more knowledgeable and discerning about what they buy," said Littleton, of New York-based advisory Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art, in an interview.

China's languishing stock markets and falling property prices resulting from government cooling measures have eroded the wealth of the nation's rich, making them more circumspect about spending on big-ticket items such as antiques, said Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley's former chief Asia economist who now works as an independent economist.