The Antiques Trade Gazette has a short article on the growing importance of private sales at Sotheby's and Christie's. The ATG pulls some of the more pertinent growth and sales figures from the recent financial reports from the auction houses.
The ATG reports
The competition over private treaty sales headlines Sotheby’s and Christie’s latest set of results which cover the first half of 2011.
Christie's were first to announce their global art sales total (including auction and private sales), which stood at £2bn/$3.2bn for the first six months of the year, a rise of 10% on the same period for 2010. The auction house followed this figure immediately with the news that private treaty sales had risen 57% to £286.7m/$467.3m.
By comparison, Sotheby's reported record first half equivalent global art sale totals of £2.12bn/$3.4bn, a 45% rise on the same period in 2010.
Private sales rose by 114% to £275.1m/$448.4m.
Christie's have also been keen to highlight their internet and online bidding service performance.
Christie's Live saw 19% of clients bidding via the web, surprisingly down on the figure of 28% that the company gave out in March, although that was for the whole of 2010. Christie's also reported a 14% rise in new clients buying.
Meanwhile Sotheby's have yet to turn the spotlight on their still-nascent Bid Now system when it comes to results.
As for the markets in which the auction firms operate, Christie's saw a 24% rise in sterling terms to £803.4m/$1.3bn in UK and European sales for the first half, with a 13% drop for the equivalent period in the Americas to £577.7m/$941.6m. But it was Asia that told the real story, with sales up 48% at £296m/$482.5m, a trend that is expected to continue.
Sotheby's Spring sales series in Hong Kong netted a record £274.2m/$447m, while their June Contemporary series in London also set a record at £126.4m/$206m.
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