KOLLER VIEW 2/23

27 Branch offices & representatives Specialists KOLLER ZURICH Hardturmstrasse 102 8031 Zurich Switzerland T +41 44 445 63 63 office@kollerauctions.com DÜSSELDORF Ulrike Gruben Citadellstrasse 4 40213 Düsseldorf Germany T +49 211 30 14 36 38 M +49 175 586 38 64 duesseldorf@kollerauctions.com KOLLER GENEVA Rue de l’Athénée 2 1205 Geneva Switzerland T +41 22 311 03 85 geneva@kollerauctions.com MUNICH Fiona Seidler Vilshofener Str. 8 / corner Mauerkircherstr. 81679 Munich Germany T +49 89 22 802 766 M +49 177 257 63 98 muenchen@kollerauctions.com ITALY Lapo Baccarelli Via dei Fossi 15 50123 Florence, Italy T +39 366 994 16 36 italia@kollerauctions.com BEIJING Jing Li Chedaogou 10# 6/4-307 Haidian Qu 100089 Beijing China T +86 135 2039 8057 beijing@kollerauctions.com SWISS ART Cyril Koller & Laura Koller lkoller@kollerauctions.com IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART Cyril Koller & Jara Koller jara.koller@kollerauctions.com POSTWAR & CONTEMPORARY PRINTS & MULTIPLES Silke Stahlschmidt stahlschmidt@kollerauctions.com PHOTOGRAPHY Gabriel Müller mueller@kollerauctions.com FINE FURNITURE Stephan Koller skoller@kollerauctions.com OUT OF THIS WORLD Christian Link link@kollerauctions.com ASIAN ART Regi Preiswerk asianart@kollerauctions.com OLD MASTER & 19 TH CENTURY PAINTINGS Karoline Weser weser@kollerauctions.com OLD MASTER PRINTS & DRAWINGS Franz-Carl Diegelmann diegelmann@kollerauctions.com EUROPEAN PORCELAIN Sabine Neumaier neumaier@kollerauctions.com SILVER Corinne Koller ckoller@kollerauctions.com DESIGN Cyril Himmer himmer@kollerauctions.com VINTAGE FASHION Jara Koller jara.koller@kollerauctions.com BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS & AUTOGRAPHS Dr. Andreas Terwey terwey@kollerauctions.com ART DECO, ART NOUVEAU & CARPETS Jean-Pierre Dalla Vedova dallavedova@kollerauctions.com JEWELLERY Reto Schmidlin schmidlin@kollerauctions.com WATCHES Uwe Vischer vischer@kollerauctions.com WINE Koller Geneva geneva@kollerauctions.com much ado about nothing, because Trinity was acquired by the private Phoebus Foundation for public display. The Phoebus Foundation’s cultural centre is currently being planned in an Antwerp skyscraper. In a few years, the foundation’s art collection will be on display there, alongside Trinity. Phoebus will exhibit the skeleton elsewhere until then and would also like to give access to researchers. What have you learned about the fossil trade from this unique auction? CK: The standards under which fossils are traded are not the same everywhere. It was clear to us that we had to apply the same standards regarding due diligence to fossils as we do to our classic auctions. Even the name is a concept: Trinity means that it is a composite of three individuals. A German palae- ontologist wrote in his analysis, ‘The documentation and pre-auction assessment of “Trinity” sets high standards in transparency, which should be followed by auction houses around the planet’. We were hon- oured to read this. CL: We left a first footprint in June 2022 with the auction of a pterosaur skeleton. It is par- ticularly important and helpful that we can rely on the exper- tise of independent special- ists. In this way, we instil confi- dence, protect the buyers and guarantee that our catalogue information is correct. Media outlets worldwide re- ported extensively on the Zurich dinosaur auction. What did Trinity do for Koller Auctions? CL: The widespread media attention ensured that Koller Auctions has now become a household name in much wider circles for this new line of business. CK: This was only our second ‘Out of This World’ auc- tion, and never did we expect such an enormous me- dia response. Such attention is like an echo, however: it bounces back and forth a few times and then fades away. But we are confident that ‘Out of This World’ will continue to appeal to our existing clientele and open up newmarkets. Meteorites and fossils are twenty-first century Wunderkammer objects! ‘We are incredibly proud to announce that this spectacular spec- imen will be part of a significant Phoebus Foundation project, the ‘Boerentoren’ in the heart of Antwerp’. Dr Katharina Van Cauteren, Chief of Staff of the Chancellery of The Phoebus Foun- dation Photo: Nik Hunger