Letter: Art market profits don't mean recovery

Sir: Your headline 'Christie's soars on art recovery' (Business, 11 March) is somewhat contradicted by the narrative.

You mention in your article that the increase in the buyers' premium in 1993 added pounds 12m to profits. This means that the increase due to market recovery is minimal ( pounds 6.7m to pounds 6.9m and not pounds 18.9m). Even this result includes purely financial items.

In other words, Christie's higher profits are not attributable to the soaring art market but to the soaring buyers' premium.

Yours sincerely,

JONATHAN PRICE

Munich

13 March