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11th February 2012


london selection Swiss bankers – still kings


■ St Moritz, Davos, Gstaad and the rest continue to dominate


■ A record price for Roger Broders keeps French in play


Gabriel Berner reports


AS political and business heavyweights deliberated over the weakness of the global economy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, one of Switzerland‘s most prestigious mountain resorts, there was no such uncertainty at Christie’s (25/20/12% buyer's premium) annual Ski sale in South


Kensington. The 245-lot auction on January 25


was 89 per cent sold by volume and 96 per cent by value, and netted £586,860. “This was the second best total in 15 years of the ski sale,” said CSK poster specialist Nicolette Tomkinson. “The highest total was during the economic boom in 2008 so this shows it is a strong market.” Unique to Christie’s, the ski sale is


a perennial favourite among those in search of eye-catching 20th century alpine posters to adorn their homes and chalet walls. “The sale was dominated by individual private buyers and many bids were aptly received by mobile phones from the ski slopes,” said Ms Tomkinson. This demand has translated into consistently high selling rates, even


Above left: Roger Broders’ winter scene at the French resort St Pierre de Charteuse topped CSK’s ski sale on January 25 where it sold for £26,000. Above right: Palace Hotel, St Moritz by Emil Cardinaux fetched £20,000.


in some of the gloomiest economic conditions possible; in 2009, for instance, the auction house achieved a total of around £480,000 for a 336-lot sale. Despite the success, prices of


individual posters can fluctuate from one year to the next, depending on the impulse of these bidders. Last year’s top lot of the 1913 Gstaad Palace poster by an anonymous designer fetched £18,000; this year’s example of the


same poster, with a matching condition grade, sold for £13,000. This is why Ms Tomkinson tends to err on the side of caution with estimates. Swiss posters continue to be the most


desirable and this year accounted for a particularly high proportion of the sale – 164 lots – contributing over £400,000 of the total raised. This was partly because around a third of the posters in the sale came from a private collection which had already been partially dispersed at


Christie’s Travel and Vintage posters auction last November. The works from the collection here were 99 per cent sold. The remainder of the lots were shared between resorts in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Norway and America, as well as a sprinkling of alpine- themed commercial posters. The most sought-after posters,


in general, are those for prestigious resorts, particularly Swiss ones, but the other key factor is decorative appeal.


Heading for the alpine


HE may be a London-dwelling art dealer, but as a keen skier and mountain climber, William Mitchell’s heart is in the Alps. William and his brother, James, now run John Mitchell Fine Paintings, the third- generation family business, but for the past ten years William has found a way of combining his two passions through an


Left: The Weissmies seen from above the Lagginjoch, Saas-Fee by Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921), oil on canvas, 2ft x 3ft 9½in (66cm x 1.1m.) signed and dated 1907, for which William Mitchell is asking £65,000.


annual exhibition of alpine art, with the 2012 show currently on at their 44 Old Bond Street gallery. Peaks and Glaciers 2012 continues


until March 2 and fields more than 30 paintings accumulated over the past year. Having established the event on the exhibition calendar, William is showing more works than ever before and finds that people with pictures of this type to sell are approaching him in increasing numbers. This year’s outing includes works by


significant alpine artists including Edward


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