Japanese

http://www.christies.com/auctions/japanese-art#the-auction-section

I've known about this for a couple of weeks but it is a pain that you don't appear to be able to see images of the lots until tomorrow. Also there isn't any indication as to whether it is possible to see them (as with the Maak auctions) on display while the online auction takes place.

I suspect prices will be steep if the estimates on the pots in their auction on Wednesday are anything to go by.

http://www.christies.com/salelanding/index.aspx?intSaleID=19573

I looked at this Christies Online Only auction with both British and Japanese studio pottery and the most bizarre thing is that they expect you to bid without knowing the final price that you will pay when you have made that bid.

Actually the most bizarre thing is that they have idiots with more money than sense who have already bid.

If you have a look you will see that the starting prices are high and to add to that there is buyer's premium at 25%, which is really 30% when they add on VAT. However, it doesn't stop there. There is something that they call "Loss Damage Liability" which is calculated at 1.25% of the bid (I assume that they add VAT so it is really 1.5%) which is added to the final cost. Finally, they add shipping & handling charges with more VAT that they don't specify the cost of.

I suppose if you need to know what you will have to pay then you are not the type of client that this is aimed at.