Christie's Dubai: Reasons for Locating in Dubai - Thesis Example

Christie's, the world-famous auction house was founded (1) by James Christie on the 5th of December, 1766 in London, England. It had very soon established itself and had gained the reputation of a leading auction house in the world. Christie's also took the advantage of London gaining the status of a major center of international art trade which had come up just after the French Revolution. Christie’s was listed publicly in the stock exchange of London from 1973 up to 1999 but then it was taken back and was privately owned by Francois Pinault who was a French national. Thus Christie's is now French-owned. For several years now, Christie's has been holding greater market shares against its rival of a long time, the Sotheby’s, and has now become the largest auction house in the world in the spheres of revenues and market shares. Thus it has overcome its greatest rival of the long run and has established itself as the best auction house in the world. But this does not mean that it does not face competition from its rival.

Christie's has to its credit the auctioning off the personal possessions and artwork of eminent historical figures and personalities like Pablo Picasso, Diana, the Princess of Wales, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vincent Van Gogh, Marilyn Monroe, and various other persons. In a lawsuit filed, the ownership of the famous Archimedes Palimpsest was disputed. After the completion of that lawsuit, Christie’s sold it in 1998. Christie’s had become the first-ever auction house in the international market to have exhibited the artworks in China and Beijing, in 1995.

The main salesroom of the Christie’s is based in St. James on King’s street since 1823. The auction house has yet another salesroom in London which is in South Kensington opened in 1975. This saleroom typically deals with collections such as teddy bears, cameras, toys, dolls, scientific instruments, and the middle market. This saleroom of the Christie’s in South Kensington is said to be one of the busiest auction rooms in the world. There are various locations where Christie’s has located its auction houses. It has its bases in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Rome, Milan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangkok. The auction house that it had in Australia also has been closed since April 2006. Christie’s has also inaugurated an art auction in the Middle East on the 24th of May, 2006, in Dubai. Thereby it has also planted its roots in Dubai.

A major scandal had come up in the year 2000, which brought to the limelight the evidence of price-fixing between the two great auction houses, the Sotheby’s and the Christie’s. In reality, it was found after investigations that it was a situation of commission fixing which had resulted in complicity. Moreover, the particular executives of both the auction houses had admitted that they were guilty. It was even to the extent that a very long-time reliable employee of the Christie’s whose name was Christopher Davidge, had admitted that he was guilty to the FBI of the United States. This had saved him from being prosecuted by the US authorities for the company. Thereafter a number of senior management Personnel of Sotheby’s had been fired from their job in late 1999.

Christie's has also opened bases for educational degrees in which it offers part-time, diploma and mater’s courses in various topics including antiquities and even contemporary artworks. This division of the Christie’s was founded by Robert Cumming and is based in Paris, New York, and London. The students in the courses study the history of art but are also made aware of the current trends and practices of the art world of today. There is also the division which is known as Christie’s Images. It is the library of the pictures for the auction house which has an archive of millions of decorative and fine art images which represent or depict the items that are for sale in all of its salerooms throughout the world. There is also available for the reproduction of the images as there are offices in New York and London.