Results: Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Sotheby's just completed its London Contemporary Art Evening sale, and the results can be considered decent, but certainly not great or strong.

The sale offered 79 lots with all but ten not selling for a very good 87.3% buy through rate.  The 69 lots that sold totaled $$108.3 million including buyers premiums, and sold 93.4% by value. The pre sale estimate value ranges for the auction ranged from a low of  $90.30 million to a high range of $129.5 million. So the sale with a strong sale by lots was right in the middle of where the sale was expected to be.


The top selling lot was by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warrior 1982 sold for $8.7 million including buyers premium, against a pre sale estimate of $7.8 million to $10.9 million.  The painting had previously sold in 2005 for $1.8 million and in 2007 for $5.6 million.  The painting also had a guarantee/irrevocable bid placed on it, along with 5 other lots in the sale.  Of the top ten lots 5 were noted as private collectors, 2 were European private collectors, and two were anonymous.Of the top ten 2 lots sold above the high estimate, 7 were within the estimate range and one was below the low estimate.


According tot he NY Times, the Christie's contemporary sale is the one to watch, so it will be interesting to see if the sale adds a bit more excitement and buzz to the art market.  Or is it possible the lack of confidence in the economy in general is impacting the top end of the market?  It is hard to say after this sale, which did as expected, but nothing really broke out and made news or created a buzz within the trade.


The NY Times reports

In a little over two hours on Tuesday night, Sotheby’s managed to sell $108 million worth of contemporary art, another testament to the breadth and depth of interest in works by well-known names like Basquiat, Bacon, Twombly and Warhol. The auction house had packed the sale with 79 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, mostly by artists who have brought top prices in recent seasons. But while the salesroom was filled with an international crowd of dealers and collectors, the evening could best be described as more solid than exciting.

Of the 79 lots on offer in a sale that had been estimated to bring between $89.6 million to $128.5 million, only 10 failed to sell.

Source: The NY Times