Results: Paris Tribal Art Sales

Amy Page of Art Info is reporting mixed results for the recent Tribal Art sales at Christie's and Sotheby's in Paris this past week. At the Christie's sale, 322 lots were offered with only 197 selling for a 61% percent sell through rate. The Christie's sale totaled $1.42 million.

The Sotheby's session 1 sale offered 65 lots with 42 selling for a 64% sell through rate. The catalog estimate range for this session was $5.14 - $6.67 million. The sale only totaled $2.4 million including buyers premium. The second session did better, with 129 lots offered and with 86 selling for a sell through rate of just over 66%. The sale totaled $3.6 million. The two Sotheby's sessions totaled $8.3 million. The top lot at the Sotheby's sale was Kwele altar figure from Gabon (see image) which was estimated to sell for $625,000.00 to $834,000.00 and it hammered down at $1.35 million including buyers premium.

Page states The June tribal art auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in Paris were mixed affairs. In particular, Christie’s strategy of not holding African and Oceanic art sales in New York while concentrating on strengthening its tribal sales in the French capital is obviously not working. The house’s resulting auction on June 16 was weak, filled with items of low value and even lower estimates. As a result, it was a boon for dealers who took the opportunity to replenish their stock at bargain-basement prices.

Page continued Speaking the morning after the sale, Fritts said that Sotheby’s had many offers for the unsold Guimiot lots, including some from an American collector who had been interested in all of the top lots but could not be reached by phone during the sale. She was confident that the final results would be much better in a day or so.

“The market is not slipping, as evidenced by the prices in the various-owner sale,” said Fritts (Sotheby’s international director of African and Oceanic art). She emphasized that crossover buyers continue to be players. “The Songye figure from the Guimiot sale went to a contemporary-art collector. It was only the second piece he bought from us. And the Fang figure sold to a collector of Impressionist art. They are really a very strong factor in the market.” Both were European collectors.

The article ends with the notation that there were satellite gallery sales of tribal art and the reports of sales were very postive. To read the full Art Info article, click HERE.