While the City of London was shaken by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the run on HBOS, Sotheby’s staged a record-breaking auction for the works of the artist Damien Hirst, which produced a gross take of around $200 million. Compared to the values that were being destroyed on Wall Street, this was small change; but it was a remarkable vote of confidence in the work of one artist.
普林斯顿-在9月的金融危机中，伦敦发生了一桩大事：虽然雷曼兄弟的倒闭和HBOS苏格兰哈利法克斯银行挤兑事件震撼了伦敦金融城，但苏富比拍卖行却举行了艺术家达米安·赫斯特作品的破纪录的拍卖会，拍得了约2亿美元的总值。与华尔街上正在被吞噬的价值相比，这笔钱算是小儿科；但此拍卖对一位艺术家的作品投了大大的信任票。