2008 Sales Figures for Sotheby's and Christie's

Colin Gleadell of the Telegraph UK reports It looks as if Sotheby's has wrestled majority share of the global art and antiques market from old rival Christie's, which has been describing itself as the number one auctioneer by sales for several years now.

Auction sales at Sotheby's during 2008 declined slightly from $5.3 billion (£3.6 billion) in 2007 to $4.9 billion. Estimates for Christie's sales suggest a drop of about 20 per cent from $6.3 billion to just over $4 billion.

It appears Christies was hit harder than Sotheby's in 2008. I have not looked at actual figures, but most of the decline I would assume came in the 4th quarter. Keep in mind, these figures are for total sales, and the Gleadell post doe not mention profit/loss for the houses. Those figures, at least for Sotheby's should be released soon. Christies is privately held. The yearly figures put into perspective the amount of property these two international auction houses sell on an annual basis.