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Wine Collectors Help Sothebys To Record Year

Many of us are content to buy wine online when it comes to looking for a great vintage, wine collectors are in a period of transition. Some collectors are gaining (but only at a substantial price), whilst there are those who want to profit from the interest. In the middle of this marketplace are Sotheby’s, an international chain of prestigious auction houses who have recently announced absolutely incredible wine auction figures for their 2010 activities. In 2010, 88 million US dollars worth of wine was handled by Sotheby’s auction houses, more than they’ve ever handled before.

Figures in western auction houses are impressive enough (15 million in New York, 20 million in London) but it’s the prices in the Hong Kong branch that are causing a real stir. The Hong Kong branch accounts for 52 million US dollars of wine sales in the last year. Rather obviously, Chinese bidders aren’t going made over just any supermarket Chardonnay wine either. Among the most impressive purchases this year was A Chateau Lafite 1869, the most expensive standard sized bottle of wine. It fetched just over 232 thousand US dollars at the Hong Kong house.

After the abolition of wine duty, Hong Kong has become the wine capital of Asia, with many wealthy Asian collectors swooping to pick up the prestigious wines flowing through their auction houses. Aiming to take advantage of the new market and its value, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber will be auctioning off his wine collection in a January 22nd auction at the Hong Kong branch. It is predicted that Lloyd Webber will get as much as 4 million US dollars from the sale. But auctions here and elsewhere are increasingly less about the wine and more about the power statement a collector makes when they hand over a record breaking sum. The most I can hope for in this lifetime is to grab a nice Barolo or another Nebbiolo wine and get a friend to talk at us without pausing for breath to simulate that auction house experience.

Sotheby’s Guide to Animation Art $9.81 Animation art has become one of the most popular fields of collectibles, embracing both vintage and contemporary images. The appeal of animation art is universal, as it captures scenes and characters from popular cartoons as well as animated feature films. With the success of such recent films as Disney’s The Lion King, interest in animation art has grown exponentially. These enduring images of po…

Sotheby’s – Collectors’ Carrousel including the Hollywood Costume Collection of William Thomas- New York 12/13/84 (Collectors’ Carrousel) This auction catalog consists of 292 lots many illustrated (black and white) and all described in detail. The Hollywood Memorabilia begins with lot 166 in Session II….

Corkscrews for Collectors $31.67 …