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What to do about an antique market that is seen to be either the preserve of billionaires in international sales or in the doldrums at local level?  For innovation head to New York.

A theme evident at the Winter Show in January has re-emerged just in time for Christie’s Interiors auction in the Big Apple on August 21 and 22. At the Winter Show an easy to read system of coloured price tagging with legends like under $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 and so on was set up in an attempt to woo new young collectors. Christie’s summer interiors auction of 495 lots of furniture, decorative objects and fine art features a collaboration with Alexandra O’Neill, designer of the ready to wear line Markarian and CeCe Barfield Thompson, principal of the interior design firm CeCe Barfield Inc. Objects in the auction that provided inspiration for the designers’ capsule collections include a late 18th/19th century Dutch Delft blue and white five piece garniture, a pair of Italian marble jardiniers, a 19th century parcel gilt tray table and a pair of large button tufted couches or day beds of the Directoire and Empire periods known as recamiers. The capsule collections of dresses and homeware inspired by the objects in the auction are now being sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman, the luxury Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. 

UPDATE: Interiors totaled $2,331,375 with 89% sold by lot and 92% sold by value.The sale attracted a high volume of online bidding through Christie’s LIVE, with 59% of all lots won or directly underbid by clients participating online.  The sale saw global participation with registered bidders from 43 countries.