Back on April 14th I posted on the auction house strategy of listing multiple lots of quality art by the same artist. Click
HERE to read the original post. In the post I mentioned that Sotheby's has success with selling multiple lots of art by Gerhard Richter and that Christie's was also trying the strategy be offering 5 exceptional lots by Alexander Calder in the May 8th Contemporary and Post War evening sale. The previous auction record for Calder was $6.3 million and the pre sale estimates were aggressive with one Calder listed at $8-$12 million. Three of the five lots were sold above the previous auction record and high and another was just under the previous high.
The lots break down as follows with estimate and hammer plus premium
- Lot 11 $3.5 - $4.5 million estimate and sold for $10.39 million
- Lot 12 $3-$4 million estimate and sold for $6.35 million
- Lot 33 $8-$12 million estimate and sold for $18.56 million (see image)
- Lot 42 $4-$6 million estimate and sold for $5.79 million
- Lot 58 $1-$1.5 million estimate and sold for $1.76 million
It certainly appears the sales strategy of grouping quality lots in the same auction worked well in this case as all five sold above the pre sale high estimate. The multiple lots do not appear to have diminished the interest in bidding.
No comments:
Post a Comment