Hong Kong Lures Antique Lovers : Merchandise and prices can both be ‘unbelievable’ at the Crown Colony’s annual winter sales.

Even in Hong Kong there are sure signs of winter. The breeze turns nippy and the humidity drops to 50%. Commuters on the Star Ferry huddle in wool jackets and sweaters. Restaurant menus offer “winter food” that includes hot pots, Mongolian barbecue and--for reasons unclear to me--snake.

And up until the Chinese New Year, which began yesterday (Jan. 23) this year, thousands of shops slash prices for the annual Winter Sales.

When I arrived in Hong Kong at the end of November, the imposing Chinese Arts & Crafts Ltd. in Kowloon was already emblazoned with crimson banners offering storewide discounts of as much as 40%. Small items in silk, sandalwood, beadwork and porcelain proved even more irresistible.

Chinese Arts & Crafts is one of the big, reputable stores with set prices, a situation that is comfortable for those who don’t wish to play the bargaining game or prowl the street markets.

But competition is everywhere: in mammoth shopping complexes such as the new Pacific Place on the Hong Kong side, Harbour City and the New World Center in Kowloon, and the luxury shops and galleries in hotel arcades.

The Peninsula Hotel alone has more than 100 shops, including a Hermes boutique where I found a silk tie identical to one that had tempted me at the Nice airport duty-free shop. I passed it up in France, bought it in Hong Kong . . . and saved enough to cover a light lunch.

Hollywood Road on Hong Kong Island has long been the home address for antique shops, a dizzying street of rare objects, of items collectible and fake, a place for a knowledgeable buyer to deal.

In the dramatic fishbowl lobby of The Regent hotel, I met a woman from Upstate New York. Her thirtysomething daughter had arrived first in Hong Kong and begun forays into the crannies of Hollywood Road. When she checked in there was an urgent message: The daughter had found a Tang dynasty horse for an unbelievable price--$2,000--and wanted her mother to hurry over and inspect.

“She really hated herself,” the older woman said. “She had miscalculated by one zero.”

My most magical discovery was hidden below the Ocean Terminal shop called Charlotte Horstmann & Gerald Godfrey, in Harbour City. The shop itself is an enchanting--but smallish--collection of fine Asian art, international crafts and antiques. A European friend had urged me to ask to see “the warehouse.”

No problem. A Belgian employee led the way down a clanking elevator to a windy dock where freighters were tied to unload. A towering warrior statue guarded the warehouse entrance, as did modern security buttons. Beyond an ornate locked gate, we stepped into a hushed, two-level, 10,000-square-foot space as handsome as a private museum.

I gaped at stunning objects of cinnabar and bronze, jade and swirled gilt. There were a few showy pieces of centuries-old carved ivory that can no longer be exported, and wooden medicine chests with a hundred tasseled drawers for herbs and potions. Tall Buddhas added serenity to the chamber; dragons added zest.

That treasure cave is where I ran out of time on this trip. It is most certainly where I shall begin next time, no matter the season.