Buyer's premium, the additional levy on buyers of wine at auction, seems locked in an inflationary spiral. Christie's increased theirs from 15 to 17.5 per cent in the US from 1 January, making a significant difference to the hammer price and price actually paid by us wine consumers – and bringing it level with what Sotheby's have been charging in the US for some months.
In the UK Christie's buyer's premium is still the relatively reasonable 10 per cent compared with Sotheby's 15 per cent (see my story on this last April).
There's an excellent overview of the situation at...