Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Christie’s sets one wine record, blows another
Christie’s auction in Geneva on Tuesday claims to have set a world record price for a bottle of red Burgundy. A U.S. buyer bought the 750 ml bottle of 1945 Romainee-Conti for $123,889. But the house failed to sell its showcase lot of the auction — 315 bottles representing every vintage from ’45 to ’07 produced by each of the first five growths of Bordeaux.
Meanwhile in New York on Saturday, the star lot – a complete vertical of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild spanning ’45-’07 sold to an Asian collector for $150,000.
Arbitrage in Bordeaux
New York’s branch of Christie’s is auctioning a collection of 64 bottles of Mouton-Rothschild on Saturday that spans the years 1945-2007. It’s Geneva branch is auctioning a collection of 315 bottles spanning the same 62 vintages, but from all five first growths including Mouton-Rothschild on Tuesday. (See story “Mystery collector to sell rare wines” [ID: nN10231397])
Saturday’s lot is selling for between $100,000 and $150,000, while Tuesday’s is estimated to sell for $696,000 to $929,000. And the price difference presents collectors with an arbitrage opportunity.
The legal way to buy stolen goods
Don’t let the headline fool you. It is still illegal to buy stolen goods … unless you’re buying them from the police.
In the same way that eBay is the world’s virtual garage sale, a website called Property Room is trying to become the world’s virtual police auction.
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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