Another Modern Collection Goes Under the Hammer - Is the Market Still Strong?

Bloomberg is reporting on the modern collection of Laurent Negro and the contents of his medieval Chateau de Gourdon, near Grasse, Provence. Christie's is handling the sale, and pre sale estimates show the single owner sale may bring close to $82 million. This would break the record sale of YSL back in 2009. The sale is currently in progress (March 30 & 31), and I will report results when they are released. It will be interesting to see if the sale performs as well as the expectations and if the mid century modern market, at the top end of the market is still strong. The 860 lots have a pre sale estimate range of about $56.5 million to $82 million.

Bloomberg reports on the sale

“The Gourdon collection was put together with passion and with the investment upside in mind,” Rabih Hage, founder of DeTnk Collectible Design Market Report, said in an interview. “It’s in tune with the way collectors are now buying. They’re looking for pieces with a pedigree and a precise provenance.”

DeTnk this month published its overview of the market for modern and contemporary design. Auctions raised 142.6 million pounds ($228 million) in 2010, a 0.5 percent increase on the previous year, when the total was bloated by the success of Christie’s YSL sale, DeTnk said. French Art Deco designer Ruhlmann was the top auction performer in 2010, with sales of 6.4 million pounds ($10.3 million). The Gourdon sale has 34 Ruhlmann items, valued at more than 10 million euros.

Negro has been buying Art Nouveau, Art Deco and modernist design, photographs and books since the 1990s.
Ruhlmann’s Desk

A black-lacquer Ruhlmann desk and chaise longue both date from 1929 and have high estimates of 3 million euros.

Jan and Joel Martel’s 1931 aluminum Art Deco sculpture of an express train, “Locomotive en marche,” was bought by Negro for $386,500 at Sotheby’s (BID), New York, in 2008. Christie’s will re-offer it with an estimate of 200,000 euros to 300,000 euros.

To read the full Bloomberg article, click HERE.

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