Two fine Western works changed hands at Ben Brown Fine Arts, becoming some of the most expensive creations by non-Chinese artists sold during the fair. The London gallery sold Ron Arad’s At Your Own Risk chair for $150,000 and a 2005 Francois-Xavier Lalanne sculpture, Singe Avise, for $108,000, both to anonymous purchasers. Also said to be among the top-priced Western items were a pair of Massimo Vitali photographs at M+B of Los Angeles, which Hong Kong collectors bought for undisclosed sums.

The handful of Hong Kong dealers at the fair did well, holding their own alongside the many foreign galleries with international reputations. Henry Au-Yeung, director of Grotto, the fourth exhibitor to sell out its booth, said that he was pleased overall with ART HK 08 and impressed by the marketing campaign that he credits for its success. Au-Yeung was not too concerned about competing for business with the likes of Marlborough and Albion and their Picassos and Warhols. “Hong Kong galleries showing good artworks at realistic prices should not worry,” he said. “Collectors are knowledgeable people.”

Katie De Tilly of 10 Chancery Lane had a slightly different take, at least on local collectors: “The Hong Kong market is not yet that sophisticated in its appreciation of art, so something like this fair helps.”

But the gallerist, who hosted a big VIP party in one of her spaces in the Chai Wan warehouse district during the fair, was pleased by the fair’s organization and results nonetheless: “It is always a nice advantage to have an art fair in your hometown because you can do a lot around it,” she said. “We can do more PR locally. While we sold all the six artists in our booth, we also saw a spill-over to our gallery during and after the fair.” De Tilly estimated that 80 percent of her buyers were Hong Kong residents hailing from the West, a number of them “young bankers” just starting to collect art.