Missing in Action Image courtesy Phillips and Poly.
“Woo-hoo!” said Jonathan Crockett, Phillips’s chairman of Asia, as he brought down the gavel on the last lot of a two-hour hybrid auction in Hong Kong and Beijing on Tuesday. The sale, held in partnership with mainland auction house Poly, served to underscore the growing demand in Asia for younger, emerging art stars.
All told, the sale series brought in $90 million (HK$701.5 million), handily exceeding the presale estimate of $46 million to $66 million. (Final prices include buyers’ premium; estimates do not.)
The evening sale accounted for $63 million (HK$492 million), while the day sale generated $27 million (HK$209 million). Every lot offered was sold (though purists might quibble with the label “white-glove” given that two lots were withdrawn before the evening sale began).