Dave Itzkoff of the New York times recently wrote about the lack luster sales of some major auctions, along with concerns about some upcoming sales as well. I sure wish I had some better news to report on the AW Blog, but it seems like for every positive article on the markets, I find about 5 negative ones. Following the NY Times item is some better news from Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas.The article is very short, so I just cut and pasted the full text.
Itzkoff states "Adding to speculation about how the worldwide economic downturn will affect next month’s big auctions in New York, two sales abroad drew disappointing numbers. On Tuesday an auction of Islamic and Indian art at Christie’s in London sold just 47 percent of its 439 lots, Bloomberg News reported. The auction generated total sales of $18.1 million, according to Bloomberg; a similar auction at Christie’s in April generated $20.5 million from 282 lots. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, Sotheby’s in Hong Kong had lower sales than expected at the end of a five-day auction of Asian art. The auction was expected to yield about $257 million, but garnered $141.7 million from a sale of 1,700 items."
To show how mixed the markets are at the moment, a fellow appraiser recently sent me an update from Heritage Auctions. Heritage is reporting the following:
"Our $35 million September 24-27 Long Beach Expo auction of coins and currency registered more bidders (over 14,000 of them!) than any auction in our history. Our Entertainment, Space Memorabilia, and Natural History auctions over the past 10 days were consistently strong events with above average sell-through and very happy consignors. And here are some hard and fast facts on Heritage weekly coin, currency, movie posters, comics and sports auctions for just the last quarter (i.e. the last 30 days versus the 30 day period starting four months ago):
- *Our number of successful bidders is up by 11.5%.
*Our number of lots actually sold in each weekly auction is up 39.95%.
*Our average lot value is up 8.49%.
*Our total sales volume is up 43.34%
I recently heard from a fellow appraiser that some jewelry stores are also setting record sales figures. To me, it appears like the upper ends of the markets have strong investment opportunities as well as mixed prices. This with some very strong sectors such as coins, mid century decorative arts, and sections of contemporary art, while the middle market continues to languish. I also believe that while the top end of the market may show some signs strength, I do question the depth of the strength, as the NY Times article basically alludes to.
It would be nice to see some balance come back to the markets. That being said, as appraisers we need to stay current, and know where there is strength and where there is market weakness. It would be wrong to assume just because the overall economy is weak, all sectors of the art and collectible markets are weak as well.
Word of caution, know what you are appraising.
It would be nice to see some balance come back to the markets. That being said, as appraisers we need to stay current, and know where there is strength and where there is market weakness. It would be wrong to assume just because the overall economy is weak, all sectors of the art and collectible markets are weak as well.
Word of caution, know what you are appraising.
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