Results: Sotheby's NY Russian Art

On April 12 Sotheby's NY held its Russian art sale. The results appear to be very positive with many strong lots, although there were many buy-ins. The sale offered 336 lots, with 216 lots selling, for a rather unremarkable sell through rate of 64.3%.  Even with the low sale through percentage, the total sales figures were very good at $16.09 million including buyers premium.  I believe this again indicates that the stronger items are doing well.

Sotheby's reports was the highest selling Russian NY sale since April of 2008.     The pre sale estimate as reported by the Artnewspaper was $11.9m-$16.5m, so the sale was close to high expectations when buyers premiums are included.  The top selling lot was Henryk Siemiradzki’s The Sword Dance selling for $2.1 million against a pre sale estimate of $600,000 to $800,000 (see image).

I will posted the results from the Christie's NY Russian sales in the next day or two.

Sotheby's reported on the sale

Sotheby’s auction of Russian Art in New York brought $16,089,390 in total today, in excessof the pre-sale high estimate and the highest result for an auction in New York in this category since April 2008. The Russian paintings on offer were highlighted by Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin’s View of St. Petersburg from the collection of Mikhail Baryshnikov, which sold for $746,500 above a pre-sale high estimate of $500,000. The sale was led by Henryk Siemiradzki’s The Sword Dance, which achieved $2,098,500 and set a new record for the artist at auction, as well as works by Nicholas Roerich, Boris Grigoriev and Yuri Pimenov. Russian works of art were led by An Important and Rare Micromosaic Table by Gioacchino Barberi, Made for the Russian Court, 1830-33, which more than tripled its high estimate in bringing $1,986,500. Competition came down to three determined bidders, who battled for several minutes before the winning bid was cast by an anonymous purchaser over the telephone.

Russian Paintings

“We are very pleased with the results of today’s sale, as we continue to see exceptional works perform well” commented Sonya Bekkerman, Head of Sotheby’s Russian Paintings department. “This sale will be followed by our auction of Important Russian Art in London this June and in New York this November, which will focus on bringing more top-quality works to our clients.” The morning session kicked off with the sale of Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin’s View of St. Petersburg from the collection of Mikhail Baryshnikov, which brought $746,500, well in excess of its $500,000 high estimate. Five phone bidders vied for the work–whose proceeds will benefit the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City–before it finally sold over the phone to a German private collector.