Results: Christie's NY Russian Sale

The other day I posted results from the Sotheby's NY Russian fine and decorative arts sale (click HERE to read). I now have the results from the Christie's NY Russian sale as well. They are surprisingly similar, which I suppose is a good sign as there appears to be some consistency coming back into the markets.

The Christie's sale had 390 lots with 269 selling for a buy through rate of 69%. The sale totaled $13.23 million with an average price of around $49,000.oo per lot. This is down from the sale last year which saw the average lot sell for approximately $69,000.00, and change almost 30%.

Although the consistency between the Sotheby's and Christie's sales, I believe, is a positive as are the sell through rates, I am also not so concerned by the lower price of the average lot. This year the major auction houses have made a decided effort to keep quality high, estimates lower along with an emphasis on greater percentages of lots selling. I think by most accounts, the auction houses in using this more conservative approach are doing a decent job of stabilizing markets.