Results: Christie's Post War and Contemporary Sale

Scott Reyburn of Bloomberg reports on the recent Christie's Post War and Contemporary sale which was held to compliment the Frieze Art Fair in London. The Crhistie's evening sale saw a total of 25 lots up for sale with all but one selling. The group of Post War and Modern sales totaled $18.3 million. The $18.3 million was nearly twice the pres sale low estimate for the sales. Not a bad showing, along with positive results from the Frieze dealers, it seems there might be some stabilization, or perhaps I should say growth in this hard hit market segment. As noteded by one dealer,price have rebounded to the 2006-2007 levels.  Betwwen the results fo the art fair and the auction, reaction has been positive.

Reyburn reports

“There were some good things in the auction and estimates were reasonable,” said New York-based dealer Christophe van de Weghe. “It will give buyers confidence. People are able to see things are selling and there’s no panic in the market.”

The volume of sales at contemporary-art auctions dropped between 70 percent and 80 percent and the prices of works by 50 percent or more since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last September, said the London-based research company ArtTactic.

Christie’s equivalent auction last October, containing 47 lots, took 32 million pounds, against a lower valuation of 57.8 million pounds. Forty-five percent of the material failed to sell at that time. Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury stopped guaranteeing minimum prices to sellers at the end of 2008. Collectors have been reluctant to offer high-priced works in public without guarantees; auction companies are selling more pieces through discreet private transactions, often for higher prices than they would have achieved under the hammer.

Big Frieze

“Frieze is a big week in London,” said Francis Outred, Christie’s European head of contemporary art. “We wanted to get the right property at the right price. There were a few come-on estimates that attracted a good mixture of bargain hunters and big-game hunters,” he said.

A 2004 Rudolf Stingel silver wallpaper painting that failed to sell at Christie’s London in February 2008 against a low estimate of 500,000 pounds was re-offered last night at 150,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds. A flurry of bidding pushed the price up to 289,250 pounds.

“Prices are back to the level of 2006 and 2007,” said Van de Weghe.

To read the full Bloomberg report on the sale, click HERE.