In the Spink

Spink chairman and chief executive Olivier Stocker is so fresh from his move from London, the walls of his Wan Chai office are completely bare when he meets with the Post. Highlighting the steadily growing importance of the Chinese buyer, the venerable auction house, known for its sales of stamps, banknotes, and medals, is the first major house to move its chief executive to Asia.

"I think the best way to focus everybody's mind … is to make a bold decision and a bold move," Stocker said. "We've been saying for over 20 years that Asia is important but I think if you want to demonstrate that it's really important you move a CEO and owner of business and his family to Hong Kong."

Spink, which held its first Hong Kong auction in 1986, expanded its presence here at the end of 2011 with the acquisition of stamps auction house Phila China, and fine-wine auction business Oeno China, both founded by Anna Lee. Lee, and just five other employees are in the Hong Kong office with Stocker.

"It's a small office here but will grow … this office could easily account for half of our business in the future," he says.

Stocker is not new to Hong Kong. He first lived here in the late 1980s as an investment banker with Jardine Fleming, before the group was sold to JP Morgan. He's been managing Spink for over 10 years, building his stake from 2003 onwards and eventually took over as chairman and CEO in 2005. He is here to cultivate relationships with clients, and help them build and then sell collections.

"The Hong Kong and China market has been buoyant for years. We have been coming to sell banknotes, coins and stamps for 25 years, so it's not yesterday," says Stocker.

The resiliency of the market is a great boon. Stamps, banknotes, and medals draw a different crowd of collectors than in the world of art or wine. Philately collectors are not in it for the flash. "It's not, the economy goes up, people pay crazy prices. The economy goes down, the market collapses," says Stocker