Christie's to open Thai branch

Christie's to open Thai branch

BANGKOK (AFP): International auctioneer Christie's announced
plans on Friday to open a branch in Thailand following its
success last year selling art belonging to the country's bankrupt
finance firms.

The British-based company was enlisted by the central Bank of
Thailand to run the country's first international art auction, of
works which once graced the boardrooms of high-flying finance
houses.

The auction of some 450 pieces in June featured some of the
most glaring corporate excesses of Thailand's heady boom years,
netting more than US$1.6 million.

"Following that huge success... the company is confident it
should open an office here," Christie's Bangkok manager Dimitri
Karukin said.