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A Vigorous Batman Auction: Comic artist Frank Miller is credited with revitalizing the Batman franchise. Now he's cashing in. He has consigned two pieces of his artwork — both valued at more than $50,000 — to Heritage Auctions for its February 22-24 sales. The book cover art for 'Absolute Dark Knight,' which Miller says is one of this favorite pieces, will be offered alongside the splash page from 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,' featuring Carrie Kelly, the first female Robin.

Art prices swelled last year, lifting sales at Christie's International PLC to $5.7 billion last year, up 14% from the year before. The London-based auction house said on Tuesday that the total includes $4.9 billion in auction sales and $808.6 million in art sales it brokered privately, as galleries typically do. The private-sale total doubled from a year ago, it added.

Christie’s International (CHRS) said there was a surge in demand for contemporary art as an investment, after its sales climbed 9 percent in 2011.

The London-based auction house sold 3.6 billion pounds ($5.7 billion) of art and collectibles last year, a pound- sterling record for the company, it said in an e-mailed release sent last night. Contemporary works -- led by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko -- were the most lucrative category, contributing 735.7 million pounds at public sales, an increase of 22 percent.

Christie's shrugged off the euro zone crisis and slowing economic growth in 2011 to post record revenues, selling art worth 3.6 billion pounds, or nine percent more than in 2010.

In dollar terms the total of $5.7 billion was not a record but was 14 percent higher than 2010, as wealthy and super-wealthy collectors snapped up rare works as status symbols, objects of desire and alternative investments.

New York (CNN) -- A collection of 46 never-before-seen photos from The Beatles' first concerts in the United States was auctioned off for more than $350,000 at a New York auction house on Wednesday.

The evening's biggest sellers included a close-up of John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing into a microphone, which sold for $30,000 and an image of the four Beatles shot from behind, which went for $68,500.

An early sighting of Leonardo DiCaprio trying to hide under a navy-blue baseball cap and sitting next to his actor pal Lukas Haas added a bit of Hollywood flavor to a generally lively sale of Impressionist and modern art at Christie’s on Wednesday night. Although neither man could be seen raising his hand, others certainly did, though in a controlled, price-conscious fashion. Blue-chip names including Monet, Matisse and Picasso brought solid prices — even if the works were far from their best — a day after auction season got off to a bumpy start at Sotheby’s.

Christie’s had a big advantage in its timing. By evaluating the results of the auction season opener, experts there were able to persuade sellers to adjust their expectations accordingly. “They lowered the reserves and got their energy back,” said Abigail Asher, a private Manhattan dealer, referring to the secret minimum price agreed upon by the seller and the auction house.

NEW YORK— Thanks to some audacious estimates pegged to choice lots at Christie's $156 million Impressionist and Modern evening sale on Wednesday, the relatively unexciting lineup delivered some satisfying moments of high-stakes bidding drama. Forty-seven of the 57 lots offered sold for a crisp buy-in rate of 18 percent by lot and 19 percent by value. Nineteen of those works made over a million dollars, four made over $5 million, and three exceeded $20 million.

Bring on the blockbusters. That’s the message of the spring 2011 Impressionist and modern auctions, as first Sotheby’s New York on May 3, 2011, and then Christie’s New York on May 4 scored significant successes with steeply priced major works but few blockbuster offerings, and none by the titans of the 1865-1945 art world.

A case in point was Maurice de Vlaminck’s Paysage de bandlieue, a drop-dead gorgeous Fauvist oil of 1905 consigned by hedge fund manager and major collector Steven Cohen. Cohen had bought the painting at the auction house in May 1994 for $6.8 million. Seventeen years later, Cohen put it back on the block, estimated at $18 million-$25 million, where it became the centerpiece of a joust between New York dealer Guy Bennett, formerly head of Impressionist art at the auction house, and the current head of department, Conor Jordan, who was bidding by phone on behalf of Acquavella LLC. The seasoned competitors cut bids and then jumped increments as the offers climbed from $18 million to $20 million, with Acquavella winning out in the end. The final price was $22.5 million, including Christie’s commissions and fees.

This weekend, Christie’s kicks off a monthlong slew of wine sales in Hong Kong.

The four major sales, to be held by a number of the biggest auction houses in the world—including Sotheby’s and Acker Merrall & Condit—will sell a combined estimate of $36.4 million of bottles.

The first auction, by Christie’s, takes place Friday afternoon at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and is expected to raise $9 million (see schedule below). A Château Lafite 1832, so old and rare there’s no tasting note for it in the catalog, and bottles as old as 1929 of Burgundy’s most prized and expensive producer, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, are among the highlights of the two-day sale.

Christie's Teresa Wong talks to Reggie Rathour and Helen Luk about Hong Kong's meteoric rise to become
Asia's top auction centre.

When Teresa Wong first interviewed for a job as Christie’s Hong Kong financial controller 10 years
ago, she knew very little about the global auction house and the rare art in which
it deals.

And she was no more comforted when, after two days on the job, she realized the finance department
was falling apart and that most of the finance staff had departed.

Since then, Wong has not only rebuilt and expanded the company’s finance department, she has also risen through the ranks to become the Asian head of finance, overseeing Christie’s 13 offices around the region. Along the way she has learned the intricacies of the auction business and witnessed Hong Kong’s transformation into a global auction hotspot behind only New York and London.