Dubai can become top auction industry player

Just a year after holding its first sale in Dubai, London auction house Christie's says the emirate has all the ingredients to become a major player in the multi-billion dollar global auction industry.
Jussi Pylkkanen, president for Christie's Europe and Middle East, says Dubai will compete strongly with powerhouses London and New York, helped by its vibrant jewellery trade, central location to wealthy client bases in India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon, and a thriving art culture in the region as a whole.
"In the next five years Hong Kong will rank number three and it just depends on whether Dubai can compete with Paris. The market here is still in its infancy but I think it can and it will rank number four, as long as it keeps encouraging the arts," he said.
"Just as Hong Kong is the natural centre of Asia, Dubai has made itself the hub of the Middle East, both geographically and logistically." Pylkkanen was speaking to Gulf News in the run-up to yesterday's Contemporary Jewels and Watches auction in Emirates Towers hotel, the company's first such sale in Dubai. Top priced items include a single-stone diamond ring by Van Cleef & Arpels valued at Dh2.6-Dh3.3 million. Last year the company felt its way into the Dubai market with the Modern and Contemporary Art auction, which resulted in total sales smashing expectations, eventually reaching $8.3 million after budgets of $3 million.The company recorded global sales of $4.67 billion in 2006, a 36 per cent increase on 2005. Dubai still represents a fraction of the company's total revenue, but Pylkkanen is hoping that sales here will hit $30 million by 2009.