Christie's sales going up as new collectors and Chinese investors flock auctions

By Angela Jameson
Updated: 17:37 EDT, 27 January 2011

Christie's, the world's largest auction house, reported record sales last year of £3.3billion, as new collectors and investors from China flocked to auctions.

Sales at the auction house, which put bust bank Lehman Brothers' fine art collection under the hammer during the year, rose 53 per cent.

Christie's said the fine art market had roared back to life and was sustainable, with many more new clients participating in its auctions.

Auction record: Pablo Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust was sold for $106.5million last year

The number of new clients registering for a sale last year rose by 23 per cent, while the number of people wanting to bid rose by 13 per cent.

Last year, Christie's set a new auction record for a single work of art when Pablo Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust sold for $106.5million in New York. 

Online bidding is a major area of expansion, Christie's said, because it opens up auctions beyond the super-rich.

More than a quarter of buyers now bid for items online, a 5 per cent increase on 2009. fine art auctioneers suffered steep losses in the wake of the global economic crisis.