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Pre-sale estimates smashed at HK and London auctions
Two more fine and rare wine auctions have attracted high levels of interest with lots going under the hammer well above pre-sale estimates.
Both Sotheby’s and Bonhams conducted auctions over the last few weeks, Sotheby’s in Hong Kong and Bonhams in London.
The Hong Kong auction focused on 330 lots solely from Château Cheval Blanc, Château d’Yquem and Dom Pérignon Rosé, while Bonhams auctioned off, among other items, several bottles of Oswald Mosley’s old cellar in Ireland.
Sotheby’s auction raised a total of HKD$20,664,380 (£1,841,590). Sales included 249 lots of Cheval Blanc with vintages from 1900 to 2005 plus 53 lots of Le Petit Cheval.
There were also 26 lots of Château d’Yquem with an Œnothèque including 20 vintages from 1899 to 2009 and an Œnothèque of Dom Pérignon Rosé including vintages 1966, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1988 and 1990.
Particular highlights included; three bottles of Cheval Blanc 1947 for $556,600 (£49,603) and a magnum of the same vintage for $387,200 (£34,506). One melchior of 2005 went for $266,200 (£23,723) and three bottles of Yquem 1945 for $108,900 (£9,705), well above the $90,000 high end estimate.
The DP Œnothèque also went over its pre-sale estimate to finish at $1,331,000 (£118,617) and the Yquem collection for $441,400 (£39,337).
The 10 bottles found at Mosley’s castle in County Cork, including three bottles of Cheval Blanc 1934 and one bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1952, sold for £2,000 in an auction that raised £563,673 in total.
Bonhams reported that the case of Mouton 1959 which made £25,300 was the most expensive lot at the auction, comfortably beating its pre-sale estimate of £12,000-£16,000. Even a case of Mouton 1950 went for three times its estimate at £13,800.
Sales of Madeira were also strong, as reported in the drinks business on Monday, with bottles of Boal 1827 and Malmsey 1830 selling at double their high estimate at £580-£680 per bottle.
A future Bonhams auction in July will make a special feature of Tokaji, while Sotheby’s is auctioning more fine wines on 16 June and Christie’s is auctioning an extensive range of Yquem this Saturday in Hong Kong.
Rupert Millar, 27.05.2010