Results: Christies "Modern Age" Sale - Ouch

Carol Vogel of the NY Times is reporting last evenings "Modern Age" sale at Christies, NY was not a successful auction. Many lots were bought in, and those that did sell, failed to meet the low estimates from the sales catalog. Sounds very similar to the Impressionist and Modern Sale Sotheby's held Monday evening.

Many other news media are also reporting the poor results, including Reuters, ArtInfo, and Bloombergs.

The Chrisite's sale was made up of the Hillman and Lawrence collections, containing a total of 58 lots. 17 of the lots did not sell, for close to a 30% buy in rate. We have seen those types of statistics before. The total sale low estimate was $104 million, with the selling lots bringing in $47 million including buyer premiums. By my math that is less than 50% of the low estimate in total sales. Even with the market condition of the past few months, lowered consignor expectations and reserves, and sale generating less than 50% of the low estimate, and with 17 itmes not selling,the results are disappointns. The top ten items sold accounted for 66% of the total $47 million for the sale.

Vogel of the NY Times reports Of the 30 works from the Lawrence collection, the highlight was expected to be “No. 43 (Mauve),” a classic 1960 Rothko painting. The dark abstract canvas was estimated at $20 million to $30 million, far beyond the $1.5 million the couple paid for it at Sotheby’s in 1988. Mr. Burge opened the bidding at $10 million, but he had no takers. (Before the auction, experts grumbled that the painting had condition issues.) Other casualties were a 1970 abstract drawing by de Kooning, estimated at $500,000 to $700,000, and a 1964 crushed metal sculpture by John Chamberlain, estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million.

Read about the sale:

Lindsey Pollock at Bloomberg
Carol Vogel NY Times
Judd Tully, ArtIfno
Christopher Michaud Reuters

Hopes had been high for this sale, with many expecting strong interest for both collections since much of the collections were of high quality and the property was fresh. Tonight and tomorrow evening Chritie's has its Impressionist/Modern Art sale, followed next week by the Post War/Contemporary Sale on November 12 & 13. Sotheby's has a contemporary sale scheduled for Tuesday evening November 11. I am sure there are a lot of nervous sellers, auction house specialists and perhaps a few collectors looking for bargains.

Stay tuned. I'll post the results as I get them.