Review of the Two Major Auction Houses

Carol Vogel writing for the NY Times has a good piece on how the two major auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's are preparing to deal with the current decline in economic activity. Most of what is in the article has been covered in past art news articles with many having been posted about on the AW Blog. This article is good in that it looks at the two houses, what they are doing, how they are competing, and even adds fuel to fire that the owner of Christie's is considering selling (denied by Christie's officials) and that with Sotheby's stock being so low, around $8.00 a share, could be a prime take over target.

The article mentions the recent layoffs, sale consolidations, and the reduction in financial incentives such as guarantees. It also previews upcoming sales, such as the February impressionist, contemporary and modern sales. Stating the expected levels are about half of what was hammered down in sales a year ago. Vogel also mentions the expansions of offices in Russia and the Middle East, stating both houses plan continued presences in these emerging art markets.

Vogel states Ever competitive, he argues that Sotheby’s and Christie’s are following “different business models.” Sotheby’s, he said, is now concentrating on what it calls the high end of the art market: the average value of a Sotheby’s lot last year was $125,000, Mr. Ruprecht said, compared with about $50,000 at Christie’s.

Yet that difference can largely be explained by the lower-priced salesroom that Christie’s operates in South Kensington in London, which attracts thousands of collectors with a continuous schedule of sales and regularly scoops up the chattel of English country-house estates. (Sotheby’s tried to imitate that practice, opening a 54,000-square-foot space at Olympia in West London in 2001. It closed last year.)

Vogel continues Until recently, Sotheby’s and Christie’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars producing sumptuous catalogs, often mailing them overnight to clients around the globe. Now the catalogs are shrinking. As fewer works come to auction, the illustrations are less lavish, and there are fewer pages of art historical essays. As the need for catalog staff, junior experts and administrators has diminished, those areas have undergone the biggest cuts. Yet several experts in areas ranging from Impressionist and postwar art to furniture and old master paintings have received pink slips too.

To read the full NY Times article, click HERE.