03/08/2024 General News
You probably saw in the news last month the astonishing story of an intense international bidding war which broke out at Keys, with bidders from China, Malaysia, continental Europe and the UK all vying to buy a 12th century Chinese stoneware dish, writes Tim Blyth.
Estimated at £500-£600, the eventual hammer price was £120,000, which with buyer’s premium means that the successful Italian bidder will pay just over £150,000 for the pleasure of owning this particular piece.
The object of the intense bidding was a 15cm mallow flower form dish with a translucent blue-grey glaze. The dish dates from the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), a period which saw technological advances in ceramics which are much sought-after by collectors.
The piece came from a Norfolk estate and was among a number acquired by a family member in Hong Kong in the 1930s. It was one of four Song dynasty pieces in Keys’ monthly Antiques, Pictures and Collectables Sale; the other three all sold close to their pre-sale estimates in the hundreds of pounds.
This story illustrates how volatile, unpredictable and just plain exciting the market for oriental – and especially Chinese - collectables is right now. A combination of soaring wealth levels in Asia, a renewed determination to repatriate Chinese heritage which has made its way to the west over the centuries, and a very competitive culture has resulted in the kind of fierce bidding battle we saw last month.
We knew this dish would be of interest, because it features one of the most prized glazes of the Song dynasty, but no-one could have predicted the intensely competitive bidding which occurred once the sale got under way. Even though the dish was slightly marred by a crack to its well, this did not put off a group of very determined buyers, who took the bidding through 237 bidding increments before arriving at the hammer price.
This is not the first time that fierce bidding has broken out over a Chinese piece at Keys. In 2022 a small Chinese lacquered box sold for £63,000, many times its pre-sale estimate of £30-£40.
Although there is self-evidently a thriving market for these kind of pieces, achieving their potential in the saleroom requires a great deal of hard work and specialist expertise.
Clearly the internet has opened up the international market. Keys was one of the first auction houses in the UK to develop its own live online bidding platform, which has enabled us to reach out to buyers all around the world, and this is a big reason Keys has such a strong reputation when it comes to selling oriental items.
Alongside this, digital marketing plays a key role in informing potential buyers that an interesting piece is coming to auction. Social media and digital advertising plays a big part in finding enthusiastic buyers around the world who are prepared to spend big to secure items for their collections.
As we see from the events last month, the market for Chinese items in particular is very strong at the moment, but you still have to know how to attract the right buyers to achieve these kind of incredible hammer prices.