Got any loose change? Sotheby’s Hong Kong wine auction in January

By Jim Boyce

The Lafitte-Petrus gravy train looks like it will continue at full speed next year when Sotheby’s holds its first Hong Kong wine auction of 2010 on January 23 at the Mandarin Oriental. The auction, the fourth featuring “The Classic Cellar from A Great American Collector“, is, according to the auction house’s press release, “the most valuable wine collection ever offered at auction by Sotheby’s”. It will include 840 lots and the expected take is RMB25-36 million (HKD28.5-40.8 million / USD3.6-5.2 million). Last year, Sotheby’s held wine auctions in April and October 2009, with a total take of  RMB77.3 million (USD11.3 million).

The 2010 “auction highlights” listed are not surprisingly focused on Bordeaux and Burgundy, particularly the much-sought Lafite and Petrus. Among the lots:

• Two cases of 1989 and three cases of 1990 Petrus Petrus estimated at RMB141-211000 (HKD160-240,000  / USD20-30,000) per case
• One 1982 imperial of Lafite estimated at RMB123-176,000 (HKD140-200,000 (USD18-25,000)
• Two cases of 1982 Latour estimated at RMB123-176,000 (HKD140-200,000 / USD18-25,000) per case
• Six cases of 1982 Mouton Rothschild estimated at RMB71-106,000 (HKD80-120,000 / USD10-15,000) per case
• Five cases of 1989 Margaux estimated at RMB75-123,000 (HKD85-140,000 / USD11-18,000) per case
• Twenty-four half-bottles of 1986 Lafite estimated at RMB62-84,000 (HKD70-95,000 / USD9-12,000) (This auction too late for the winner to use these mini-bottles as stocking stuffers, so perhaps they could be used as gifts for lesser friends during Spring Festival. Then again, maybe not…)

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Some related Grape Wall posts:

• First Spectrum wine auction in Hong Kong raises RMB24 million
• Grape Press: Fakers, robbers, and wine in China
• Hong Kong wine auction: Spectrum to sell 200 lots from Aubrey McClendon collection
• China, Thomas Jefferson, and fake wine? Benjamin Wallace, author of Billionaire’s Vinegar
• Money flows like water: Acker Merrall & Conditt tops ~165 million with Hong Kong wine auction
• Grape Press: Hong Kong auction, Down Under downsizing, Gallo on China
• Grape Press: Macau wine tax, China as Chile, Hart Davis Hart auction
• Hong Kong wine auction brings in 64 million
• Acker et al auction in Hong Kong: Got a few million to spare?

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