Results: Christie's Post War/Contemporary Art Sale

Christie's held its Post War Contemporary Art evening sale on Tuesday.  Within the sale were items from late author Michael Crichton collection including a Jasper John's Flag from 1966 (see image).  The Flag sold for $28.6 million including buyers premium, its pre sale estimated selling range was $10 - $15 million.

Not to go off track, but I do believe the upper end of the art market is acting as an additional investment opportunity as a store of value for wealthy investors and collectors. I just wrote an article for the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies on price anomalies, and one of the rationales for purchases far above the normal and expected value range on quality art was the expectations of it holding value and evening increasing in value over time and during times of economic turbulence. This strategy is now in play with modern works with the right provenance. I state in the article, "The key point is the wealthy, or HNWIs (high net worth individuals) are buying appreciable assets even in a difficult art market, and many are willing to pay a premium for the right property.  The combination of a desire to obtain property as an economic hedge, and the ability to pay over and above the accepted value range can cause price anomalies." The Journal is full of articles and content useful to appraisers. Order a copy of the journal at www.appraisaljournal.org.

Back to the Christie's sale, it sold a total of 74 lots, and offered 79 lots for sale for a 94% sell through rate.  Total sales were $231.9 million including buyers premium, with the top lot being the  John's Flag. The Crichton estate's offered 31 lots and sold for $93.3 million, this was against a $69.6 million high estimate. So again, quality and provenance of the collection pays off, over and above other lower quality and those from outside important collections. The Flag was sold to a US Dealer, so there is perhaps some additional upside on the property.

Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal reported on the sale:

The mood was chipper throughout the sale, with collectors like hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen and former superagent Michael Ovitz taking spots in skyboxes overlooking the auction house's crowded sales room, where others like entrepreneur Eli Broad and author Salman Rushdie took their seats. Two men on the front row wore ballcaps: fashion designer Marc Jacobs and fund manager John Angelo, who sits on rival Sotheby's board.

Yet the night unquestionably belonged to Jasper Johns, the artist from Georgia whose seminal series of late 1950s and 1960s depictions of flags, targets and alphabets represent some of the earliest examples of Pop art. Christie's sold eight of the artist's works for a combined $43.6 million, including the $4.1 million "Figure O."

The sale's other big winner was Andy Warhol, whose 1965 diptych of a lavender-faced Elizabeth Taylor, "Silver Liz," sold for $18.3 million, above its $15 million high estimate. Warhol's portraits of Hollywood starlets like Ms. Taylor or Marilyn Monroe are among his most coveted pieces, and at least four bidders competed for "Liz," with New York dealer Dominique Levy getting it.

To read the full WSJ article, click HERE.