Expect more Europeans and Americans to sell their collections back to the Chinese,

particularly the heavily painted Qing Air Jordan Retro 1

appeal to new buyers in Beijing. Last December, Christie's Hong Kong got $15.9 million for

a brightly colored Qing moonflask vase from the estate of California property developer

Walter Shorenstein and his wife, Phyllis. The Shorensteins paid $60,000 for the vase about

two decades earlier.

Yet for all the claims of tyrannical behaviour, Jobs also kept staff fiercely loyal. Former

employees speak of their devotion to their company with something approaching amazement;

they sound almost surprised at how hard they worked and how demanding Jobs was. Yet the

staff at the top of the company have stayed almost unchanged since he returned there at the

end of 1996, taking over the reins in 1997. Tim Cook, now chief executive; Phil Schiller,

head of marketing; Jonathan Ive, head of design. The core of Apple's functionality flows

from them.

Chinese custom gives buyers of art plenty of time to pay for their purchases. After an

Asian bidder won a yellow-and-blue Air Jordan Retro 3

British auction house Bainbridges spent the better part of a year finalizing the sale with

the buyer. Sotheby's now insists on upfront deposits for its "premium" Hong Kong lots.
yitengda04