These are cornucopia that are symbols either of abundance or the degenerate excesses of the 0.001 per cent.

Sotheby’s and Christie’s, which have been selling in Hong Kong for 50 years and 37 years, respectively, moved their auctions to such sterile confines in 2005 and 2006, when sales had outgrown the hotel ballrooms that they used to hire for their seasonal auctions.

Other auction houses have on occasion joined them in other parts of the convention centre. More often, they set up satellite sales in nearby hotels.

Buoyed by Hong Kong’s zero-tax status (for the buying and selling of art), world-class logistics and the growth in the number of billionaires in the region, this highly exclusive market is now neck and neck with London and second only to New York in terms of sales.

It has proven resilient despite recent fears that regional rivals are eating into Hong Kong’s share of the art market. Sotheby’s marked a record-breaking year in 2021 (selling HK$10 billion/US$1.28 billion) as did Phillips (selling HK$2.1 billion, nearly double the figure for 2020).

The deep pockets of local buyers became apparent when others were not flying in, says Jonathan Crockett, Asia chairman of Phillips. “Three quarters of our transactional activity in Asia comes from Greater China. And I’d say the majority is in Hong Kong. Covid really brought it home,” he says.

And a great deal of buying went online, the locations of sales blurring with events such as Christie’s July 2020 “One” sale, which saw US$420.9 million worth of art sold in one continuous live stream relayed from Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York.

The action online was a lifesaver for auctions during the period when Hong Kong had a 21-day quarantine for arrivals.

In 2021, the airport saw a few hundred people arrive per day, compared with nearly 200,000 a day in 2019.

Even so, auction houses insist that collectors need to see a work of art, a watch or a diamond in person before they commit serious money.

“If you can’t physically try a watch on, look at a jewel with your own eyes or stand in front of a painting to appreciate it, you just can’t have that personal connection with it,” says Crockett.

Still, in July 2021, when restrictions were so draconian that babies were being separated from parents who tested positive, the announcement by Christie’s that it would expand its Hong Kong space in 2024 by 60 per cent, taking up 50,000 square feet (4,700 square metres) of an expensive new building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, surprised many.

“It was, for me, definitely the turning point. It had been all bad news in Hong Kong up till then, with the politics, with Covid. Just before the Christie’s announcement, Frieze [the major art fair] announced it would go to Seoul and not Hong Kong.

“People said Hong Kong was over. And then Christie’s came along and said, nope,” says Zohra Azi, an industry expert at a fine-art logistics company.

A year later, Sotheby’s joined in with its bullish signal for the market, signing a long lease on a 24,000 sq ft retail and auction space currently occupied by Giorgio Armani in Chater House, Central, from 2024.

All three are dropping the spring and autumn auctions schedule in favour of year-round sales and embracing the “luxury retail” aspect of their business by offering new walk-in sales.

Phillips has been the first to move into its new base. Located in the WKCDA Tower, the 50,000 sq ft space includes shops, a cafe, a VIP lounge and exhibition galleries.

The advice was to do so on March 18, which inconveniently fell on a weekend. But the company decided to go with the auspicious date.

Some might call it audacious rather than auspicious. Growth is slowing in China, far fewer airlines now fly to Hong Kong and the city has seen an exodus of talent and assets. Meanwhile, Hong Kong continues to lead the world when it comes to office rent.

For Phillips in particular, this is a big jump given its relatively small scale. It is widely reported that its Russian owner (retailer Mercury Group) is looking for a buyer.

So is there pressure to build up sales in order to fetch a higher valuation for the company?

“The move will allow us to increase our revenue stream. It will also help to build our brand presence, not just in Hong Kong but across Asia. We don’t have a ‘for sale’ sign outside the window. But just like anything, if the right offer comes along, of course we’re going to consider it and you can say that about anything in this world,” says Crockett.

“Evaluations are based on revenue but that’s not the reason we’re expanding our presence here. Since I’ve joined it’s always been one of the company’s key priorities to expand its Asian offering.”

You can put an artist’s work in a Hong Kong auction for the first time, and the demand could just take off, he says.

“Take Genieve Figgis for example. She’d been around for a while in the West but nobody had heard of this female Irish painter in Asia. We put her in one of our sales and suddenly everyone wanted one of her works. And that’s a trend that does happen quite frequently here.”

He attributes this to how quickly tastes change in Hong Kong, and the strong demand from Chinese collectors for international works.

“Mainland China hasn’t necessarily been primarily a sourcing market. It’s been a buying market. And that will continue to be the case,” he says.

Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia-Pacific, also says that the house’s move – into The Henderson, a new commercial tower in Central – is riding on the company’s long-term forecast of continuing growth.

“If we move what we currently do between Alexandra House and the Convention Centre into The Henderson we fill the space 25 weeks a year. So by moving there we theoretically double our capacity.”

Patti Wong, former international chairman of Sotheby’s who left the auction house after 30 years to launch her own art advisory service in January, says all the auction houses are indeed making substantial investments in Hong Kong. It will save them money in the long run, she says.

“In Hong Kong, the sales evolved to near art fair size. The set-up cost for temporary sales made sense when you only had Chinese paintings and ceramics. These days, you need hundreds of people to set them up amid escalating costs.

“The old model of having sales on 14 days out of 365 days didn’t work. And it became impossible during Covid.”

Whether the new model will work depends on whether collectors will come to Hong Kong for different sales instead of just twice a year.

“Before, Asian auctions were so successful because of a lot of cross-category selling. Jewellery clients buying watches or ceramics, for example. Now, departments are going to compete with each other,” Wong says. (Poly Auction and China Guardian, the two biggest houses with mainland Chinese owners, will continue with their twice-a-year main sales for now while adding more mid-season sales in Hong Kong.)

Still, some auction houses are taking a more cautious approach to the Hong Kong market. Seoul Auction, one of South Korea’s biggest players, has yet to bring back live auctions in the city. Its “Hong Kong Sale” on March 28 will actually be held in Seoul, though there will be a preview in Hong Kong from March 23 to 26.

And Bill Zhao Xu, founder of Chinese auction business Yongle Culture, says he will exercise caution over his Covid-delayed plans to start sales in Hong Kong. (Yongle partnered in a limited way with Phillips for a joint sale in Hong Kong in December 2022.)

“Hong Kong is still the centre of art exchange in Asia,” says Zhao. “It hasn’t got an 8 per cent goods and services tax like Singapore. Now that the borders have reopened, mainland Chinese collectors will return to Hong Kong and we will be holding our first sale in the city later this year. But will the auctions grow very fast?

“If the global economy is good, the art market will be good. Now, the economy globally is sliding down. So I will move cautiously.”