Take the case of what Christie’s said was a bidding war, lasting 22 minutes (it says lots normally are done in 60 seconds) for a 15th Century THANGKA, a silk-embroidered work, sold for a record HK348.4 million ($45 million). It is a record for any Chinese work of art sold by an international auction house, Christie’s said.

Although the buyers of such works can remain anonymous, no such shyness exists in the case of the buyer of this piece, a certain Mr Liu Yiqian, a collector who bought the item for his recently-opened Long Museum in Shanghai.
 
“I am proud to bring back to China this significant and historic 15th  century THANGKA which will be preserved in the Long museum for years to come,” he is reported to have said.

And rival Sotheby’s is determined to win some of the razzmatazz of the auction season by announcing that in Hong Kong, it concluded two days of bidding in a Chinese art sale, totalling HK99.3 million, more than double the pre-sale estimate of HK$46.3 million.

Of course, interpreting auction results overall needs to take account of how many of the total items up for sale achieved a reserve price; trends for specific types of item, and other factors. So the sparkling results for some marquee events may not always be reflected across the auction market as a whole. Even so, as the auction market can shed light on wealth trends more generally, the outcomes of these events in November suggests that for the time being at least, demand for fine art and other collectibles is strong.