PRESS RELEASE

Jan Zrzavý is the Star of the First Auction of Dorotheum's Anniversary Year

(Prague, March 3, 2007) – On Saturday, March 3, the first auction of the year was a big success – wonderfully launching the 300th anniversary year of the founding of the Dorotheum Auction House. Three-quarters of all lots up for auction sold with a total of CZK 27 million crowns realized in this one-day sale. This is yet another year in which we have witnessed an increasing interest in investing in art and antiques.

"The auction was attended by a number of new collectors and included people from both the Czech Republic and other countries. The results showed that nowadays, people view art as both a convenient and reliable investment opportunity," said Mária Gálová, the Director of the Czech branch of the Dorotheum Auction Galleries.

This year's first auction at the Dorotheum can take pride in having been able to realize over CZK 1 million on each of three separate lots.

The top lot sold at the auction was an oil painting by Jan Zrzav?ý, Korálový ostrov (The Coral Island), which was dated 1940. It moved up from an opening bid of CZK 800,000 to sell at CZK 1.5 million. The 1 million crown mark was also exceeded by the painting Zátiší s lahví rumu (Still Life with a Bottle of Rum) by the leading Czech cubist artist, Emil Filla (CZK 1,200,000). The biggest battle at the auction was for a painting by the Croatian artist Petar Dobrovic. His oil on canvas titled The Sea Bay started out at 150,000 crowns but after only a few minutes of a heated bidding war between several interested buyers and a number of phone bidders, the painting moved up and was finally sold at CZK 1,100,000. The prices shown do not include the buyers' premium of 20%. ?

"Our greatest excitement came from the successful auctioning of two small oils by the artist Jan Preisler - Sen jinocha (Boy's Dream) and Sen dívky (Girl's Dream)?. Although these are truly exceptional items, the prices of CZK 750,000 and CZK 700,000, which they sold for, came as a most pleasant surprise," said Mária Gálová.

Collectors of weapons and glass also had lots to be satisfied with at the auction. Two wine chalices designed by the artist Otto Prutscher in 1907 sold for CZK 100,000 and 110,000. They doubled their estimates. "Prutscher's glass works can be found in a number of museum collections of glass and functional art. These two pieces undoubtedly belong among the top examples of this genre," Gálová commented.

An excellent pair of the finest quality pistols in a period case with accessories, which originally belonged to the aristocratic Kinsky family, was purchased by a collector for CZK 400,000.

"We were extremely happy with the results of our latest auction and we are already busy preparing for our 300th year anniversary auction scheduled for May. We are now in the process of finalizing the catalog and the listing of items for this auction," said Gálová.

For more information, please contact.

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