$1.5 Billion in Art Sales

Bloomberg has totaled the Christie's and Sotehby's evening and day sales, as well as the Phillips sale for the Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary auction and the figure totaled  nearly $1.5 billion.  That is about $200 million above pres sale estimates. It has been a good couple of weeks for the NY auctions.  It will be interesting to see some of the financial analysis and returns generated by the sales when released by art analytic groups such as Mei Moses.  I always enjoy seeing what the press and trade have to say about the sales versus the financial analysis and actual returns being generated.

The Phillips sale had 37 lots with 30 selling for a sell through rate of 81%, and the sale totaled $78.6 million including buyers premiums.  The top lot was Andy Warhol’s 1962 silkscreen painting “Four Marilyns” (see image) sold for $38.2 against an estimate of $35 million to $50 million (later dropped to $45 million).

Bloomberg reports on the sales

All told, the Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary auctions (both evening and day) at Christie’s, Sotheby’s (BID) and Phillips totaled about $1.5 billion this month, exceeding the expected target of $1.3 billion.

Christie’s won this round of sales, raising $638.6 million in its postwar and contemporary sales and $190.3 million for the Impressionist and modern auction. Sotheby’s tally for all sales was $665.7 million. The Phillips day sale continues today.

Seven of the 37 lots at Phillips last night failed to find buyers. A dozen lots were guaranteed to sell by Phillips, a third party or a combination thereof.

“The sale was measured,” said New York art adviser Mary Hoeveler. “People spent a lot of money in the preceding auctions.”

Christie’s recorded the highest auction tally in history the night before with $495 million and set 12 artist records, including milestones for Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Earlier in the week, Sotheby’s sold about $300 million of art, establishing records for Barnett Newman and Gerhard Richter.

Source: Bloomberg