PRESS RELEASE

Saturday's Dorothea Auction at the Prague Renaissance Hotel Brought a Surprise
Almost 300 items were auctioned off for CZK 16,200,000

(Prague, 16 September 2006) – The first large autumn auction confirmed that the boom on the antiques market is certainly not finished. The number of Czechs that attend the auctions and bid is growing significantly, which is a very positive trend.

“The total turnover confirmed the optimistic expectations that the public's interest in buying antiques and works of art is continuing,” said Dr. Mária Gálová, director of the Czech branch of the Dorotheum auction house.

The biggest surprise on Saturday morning was provided by an Italian painter from the first half of the 19th century. The oil on canvas, measuring 73 x 100 centimetres and showing a city corner with figural stafage, wass marked Ferrarino at the bottom.
“Whereas in other cases some artefacts were bid for by several people at once, in the case of the Italian painter there was a battle lasting several minutes only between two bidders. One was attempting to get the painting directly in the hall, the other, who won in the end, bid over the telephone,” added Dr. Gálová.

The value of the painting therefore rose from the starting price of CZK 180,000 to CZK 1,400,000, i.e. by 678 percent.

The price of a picture entitled “Country Celebration”, which was painted by a west-European painter around the middle of the 18th century, also rose by 150 percent during bidding. The price of the restored work from a private collection rose from the starting CZK 300,000 to CZK 750,000.
There was also interest in the picture “Girl with Skipping Rope” by Oskar Dominguez (1906-1957). The oil on canvas was sold for its starting price of CZK 450,000.

But the interest was not only in pictures. Art lovers also took home several real collector's items from the auction, including, for example a woolen carpet from the 1940s by Antonín Kybal, which was auctioned for CZK 55,000, up from the original starting price of CZK 10,000.

The price of an apparently ordinary “Turkish” sabre raced up from the original CZK 16,000 to CZK 85,000. The weapon, which is probably from Persia or Turkey, is 82 centimetres long and the new owner's attention may have been attracted by its curved blade decorated with gold.

Contact for further information:

Dr. Mária Gálová, MBA
Director of the Czech branch of Dorotheum, spol. s r. o.
Ovocný trh 2
110 00 Prague 1
Tel. a fax: 224 222 001
E-mail: galova@dorotheum.cz
www.dorotheum.cz