PRESS INFO

This year’s final Dorotheum auction has capped off a record year

On Saturday 26 November 2005, around two hundred visitors attended the Dorotheum auction held at Prague’s Renaissance Hotel where 420 items went under the hammer. The auction made 11.1 million crowns, capping off the most successful year to date for this important auction house. Dorotheum can thus boast a turnover of 63 million crowns this year, which is probably the best result of all the auction houses operating on the Czech art and antiques market.

The November auction was not without its surprises. An armchair very similar to the one used by the famous Adolf Loos in the interior of Prague’s Müller Villa, climbed from its upset price of 20 thousand crowns to an unbelievable 750 thousand crowns. A Baroque bureau from the 2nd third of the 18th century sold for 700 thousand crowns with an upset price of around half that amount. A beautiful Classicist pillar clock from the end of the 18th century sold for 260 thousand crowns.

As anticipated, Anděl strážný (Guardian Angel) by one of the leading exponents of portrait art in Bohemia in the first half of the 19th century, František Tkadlík, rose from its upset price of 80 thousand to 450 thousand crowns, similarly to Pekelný mlýn (Infernal Mill) by landscape artist Otakar Lebeda. Maxmilián Pirner and his Běh života (Lifetime) also saw significant interest, selling for a final price of 340 thousand crowns. All the photographs by Josef Sudek and Miroslav Hák on offer were sold. There was plenty of interest in Adolf Hoffmeister, as well as the magical porcelain statuette Dáma v plášti (Lady in a Cloak) by Theodor Eichler, which made 130 thousand crowns.

Trends indicate that the art and antiques market is continuing to grow. Fifteen years ago the art sold at all the auctions in the Czech Republic made approximately 15 million crowns. Today we are seeing almost four times this sum at one auction house alone. Although the range of objects on offer will probably never match the exceptional nineties, the better turnover is largely due to Dorotheum’s ever widening international connections. Around 40% to 50% of auction participants are now foreign bidders, and their participation brings higher selling prices and thus optimal capitalisation of the objects sold.

Contact: Dr.Mária Gálová, tel. +420 224 222 001, email: galova@dorotheum.cz