Christie’s is a well-known auction house boasting 85 offices in 43 countries. The South Kensington based auction house was bought by the billionaire Francois Pinault’s private holding group, Artemis, in 1988. It is reputed to be the busiest auction house in the world.
Christie’s proposes collections of artworks, real estate, jewelry, fashion items and antiques. Christie’s famously auctioned off Marilyn Monroe’s Jean Louis gown (which she wore during President Kennedy’s birthday). Christie’s celebrated its 250th birthday in 2016 and celebrated notable sales and world records. Christie’s holds the record of the most expensive canvas ever sold at an auction, Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), painted by Francis Bacon, was sold for a massive $142 000,000 in 2013. With the rise of e-commerce, Christie’s is also developing a robust online auction service.
Christie’s also has 14 salesrooms scattered across 14 megacities, including Geneva, New York, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Hong Kong. Besides, it is also aggressively expanding into emerging markets with representatives already stationed in India, Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates and has already conducted successful sales and exhibition shows in Dubai, Moscow, and Beijing.