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For London's New Super-Rich, No Whim Need Go Unfulfilled
"Le Prêtre Marié," by surrealist René Magritte, sold last month at Christie's auction house in London for about $10 million, far above the estimates.
(By Matt Dunham -- Associated Press)
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Lawrie Inman, 25, a futures trader, said he made $1.4 million in one particularly good hour last year. "I realize how lucky I am; I can take a really nice holiday or buy a Porsche," said Inman, who does drive a Porsche 911 and wears jeans and a T-shirt to work.
Garry O'Dea, a luxury car sales executive, said that at his spacious H.R. Owen Sports Car dealership, the waiting list for a new custom-made Ferrari is three years.
On a recent Saturday, one investment banker who couldn't wait that long bought a standard one from the showroom floor. "Life is beautiful," said the young man in a tweed jacket, who did not want his name used. He grinned widely as the glass windows of the store opened and he peeled out in his shiny red car onto the street.
Demand for cars costing more than $200,000 is rising, O'Dea said.
London auction houses are doing bigger business as well. Last month, Christie's broke records with $400 million in sales in a single week. The same week, Sotheby's raked in $365 million, with auctioneers noting that many items went to first-time buyers.
Not everyone here thinks the growing signs of conspicuous wealth are a positive change.
Peter Hain, an outspoken member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet, called the recent bonuses "grotesque" and said the recipients should give lumps of it to charity. A recent poll found that 73 percent of respondents agreed that bonuses were "excessive and something should be done about them," while 69 percent said the gap between the highest-paid and average earners is now too big.
"There is one extreme or another -- people buying private islands and the working class struggling with the mortgage," said Andy Holme, who works at a new service that provides chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces and Bentleys. Cost of an airport pickup at Heathrow? As much as $1,200.
