Results: Christie's and Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sales

The big New York evening sales are now history, and some made history while others, well not so much.

On Tuesday evening Christie's NY held its Post-Wary and Contemporary Art Evening sale. The sale offered 72 lots with 68 selling for and very strong 94% buy through rate.  The sale totaled an amazing $745 million, including buyers premiums. This set a new record for a single session Christie's sale. Of the sold items, this averages almost $11 million per lot.

The sale sold 98% by value with the top lot selling for $84.165 million including buyers premium, a Barnett Newman, an oil on canvas painting entitled Black Fire, estimate was on request. Of the top ten selling pieces, 5 listed estimates on request, 4 sold above the high estimate and one sold with the estimate range. I dont have a total pre sale estimate range on the sale, but, in any event the sale and other contemporary sales were very successful for Christie's.

In total, Christie's sold nearly a billion dollars worth of art ($975 million) through its contemporary sales week and set 35 auction records.

For Sotheby's news is not terrible, and given the fact there has been turmoil in the board room, I am not sure if we should be comparing the two sales.  Regardless, it certainly appears the Christie's is solidifying is place at the top of the art world.

The Sotheby's sale totaled $364.4 million, including buyers commissions against a pre sale estimated total of $336.650$474 million. The sale offered 79 lots with 67 selling for a good 84.8% sell through rate.  The sale sold 87.3% by value.  The top selling pieces was a Warhol self portrait selling for $30.1 million against a pre sale estimate of $25 million to $35 million. Of the top 11 selling lots, two did not list an estimate, only one was above the high estimate and eight sold within the estimated range.

The NY Times reported on the Christie's sale.

Tuesday night’s sale, however, was the highest total for a single auction, not accounting for inflation, in Christie’s history, officials at the auction house said, adding that about 30 percent of the buyers were new to Christie’s. Of the 72 works on offer, only four failed to sell.

The Rockefeller Center salesroom was overflowing with some of the country’s more serious collectors, including Mark Fisch, a real estate developer; J. Tomlison Hill, vice chairman of the Blackstone Group; and Andrew Saul, a New York financier — all trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Also present were Laurence Graff, the London jeweler; Marc Jacobs, the fashion designer; and Eli Broad, the Los Angeles financier.

More than half the works had already been spoken for, or guaranteed, meaning either Christie’s or a third party had promised the sellers an undisclosed sum in advance.

Source: The NY Times