Sotheby's are to move to new premises facing the Elysée Palace in Paris at the end of this year with a view to organising auction sales in 1998 while Christie's have not yet taken any decision regarding where future sales would be held in the French capital. French auctioneers who are to lose their monopoly on sales in France might have envisaged steps to unite in order to compete against their Anglo-Saxon rivals while professionals in France feel that such competition might at least revive a market which has been laying dormant for over six years. Sotheby's and Christie's might however find it hard to penetrate the French market because of high taxes which have dissuaded foreign vendors to offer their collections for sale in France.
Home
