Exclusive Ocean Liner Art Preview at World's Leading Art Business, featuring Law & Order star Sam Waterston,  Benefits Ocean Conservation

Oceana, the largest international organization focused solely on protecting the oceans, held a reception, silent auction and private viewing Tuesday, June 24, at the Ocean Liner auction preview at Christie's in New York. The event showcased a life preserver from R.M.S. Titanic. Never before seen in public, it is the first preserver from the doomed ship ever to be offered for sale in North America and is one of only six known to be in existence. Silent auction items were donated by Baccarat, Damiani, DPS-Sport Development Co., Epiphany Designs, La Mer, Nautica, Scandia Down, Tous and Transform Fitness.

 All proceeds from this event, sponsored by AIG Environmental and Nautica, benefited the marine conservation efforts of Oceana. The 140 attendees received a private tour of the Christie's Ocean Liner preview and had the opportunity to learn the history of each item, including the life preserver from the Titanic. The guests were also treated to brief remarks from Bettina Alonso, the head of Oceana's New York office and Vice President of Global Development, Law & Order star and Oceana board member Sam Waterston, as well as Oceana Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist Mike Hirshfield.

The size and enthusiasm of the crowd was extraordinarily encouraging, said Waterston. And the fact that there is corporate sponsorship on this level is tremendously important.

Oceana's work continues to grow in importance as worldwide overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and global climate change continue to deplete the oceans. Scientists have projected that if current trends in human activity continue all commercially fished species could collapse by the middle of this century.

We are honored to have such a high profile New York landmark institution believe in Oceana, said Alonso. This event is always a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our partnership with Christie's and the crowd was genuinely interested in our cause.

The exhibit at Christie's is about the ocean surface, said Hirshfield. Oceana's purpose is to find out what is going on under the ocean's surface and do something about it, and everybody who attended the event helped to support that goal.? To learn more about Oceana's mission, campaigns and victories, visit: http://www.oceana.org/.

In case you were wondering, the featured auction item, the life preserver from the Titanic, sold for $68,500. If you have any questions about the results of the Ocean Liner Auction, you can see them here:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?intSaleID=21643#intSaleID=21643.

This is the third year we have hosted the Oceana event, said Gregg Dietrich, Head of Sale of Christie's Ocean Liner auctions. We believe in what Oceana stands for and we also feel that we have a compatible mix between our Maritime Department here at Christie's and Oceana's Love for the Oceans.

Christie's leads the international market in maritime collectibles and is the only major U.S. auction house to handle this category. To learn more about Christie?s, visit: http://www.christies.com/.

Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world?s oceans. Our teams of marine scientists, economists, lawyers and advocates win specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life. Global in scope and dedicated to conservation, Oceana has campaigners based in North America (Washington, DC; New York, NY; Juneau, AK; Anchorage, AK;  Monterey, CA; Portland, OR; St. Petersburg, FL and Wayland, MA), Europe (Madrid, Spain; Brussels, Belgium) and South America (Santiago, Chile).  More than 300,000 members and e-activists in over 150 countries have already joined Oceana. For more information, please visit http://www.oceana.org/.

Christie's is the world's leading art business with global auction sales in 2007 that totaled £3.1 billion/$6.3 billion.  This marks the highest total in company and in art auction history.  Christie?s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie's offers over 600 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $80 million. Christie?s has 85 offices in 43 countries and 14 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Hong Kong and Zurich. Most recently, Christie?s has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.