Stories

With the addition of a Surrealism sale, the auction house achieved solid results in a market that is equalizing between buyers and sellers. Yesterday at Christie’s, the total sale was more than $334 million with an average lot value of $3.24 million. The sell-through rate was a very well-managed 93% with 36% of the lots selling above the estimate range.

Phillips posted another strong sale of editioned works in London this week with 349 lots offered in day and evening sales for a total of £5,047,560. The $6.8 million total exceeds the pre-sale low estimate by 75%. That represents a dynamic score (or hammer ratio) of 1.87, a red-hot indicator.

The headline numbers for Christie’s in 2021 were very impressive indeed, but the most interesting metrics for the art market come deeper down in the auction house’s $7.1 billion results. Half way through 2021, it was clear that the art market was going to have a very strong year.

At the top of the market, records were set for Huang Yuxing, Yayoi Kusama and solid gains realized for Sanyu

Sotheby’s sold a rare and storied Roman statue of Aphrodite in London for a record price of £18.6 million ($24.6 million). Sotheby’s says the price is a record for any ancient marble sculpture sold at auction. The work was offered in a single lot sale with a low estimate of £2 million.

Bonhams sale of the collection of Amalia de Schulthess totaled $15.2 million in New York today. The bulk of the value of the collection lay in two works, a Magritte from 1937 that had not been seen in public for seven decades and a piece of furniture-cum-sculpture by Alberto Giacometti. 

Two former drivers of the 20th Century and Impressionist markets return to the top of the table

New York’s November auctions totaled $2.54 billion across the sales of the Macklowe and Cox collections and the re-defined categories of Modern, 20th Century and now present-day art. This is the highest total for a November auction cycle in New York.

Sotheby’s final night of sales capped off the astonishing November 2021 auction season bracketing a wild evening of record-setting sales and a legendary taste maker’s market-thrilling divestiture around the oddest rare book and manuscript single-lot auction ever staged.

Did Ken Griffin have a secret advantage in his bidding? The sale of one of the 13 copies of the first printing of the United States Constitution is worth mentioning here simply because of the fascinating bidding dynamics that played out.

Although still dwarfed by its competitors, each season Phillips Auction House makes progress toward growth. Wednesday night’s all-time high Evening sale total crept up on the team at Phillips which is probably more of an indication of their growth than the absolute number.

Success had many fathers at Sotheby’s last night once the 676.1 million first part of the Macklowe sale was over. The company’s owner, Patrick Drahi, took Harry Macklowe  up to the empty rostrum to pose for a few celebratory pictures together.