Guarantees Are Back

I posted a few days ago on a Financial Times article about the upcoming London sales and the news of many lots having guarantees as well as loan advances. The Telegraph has a follow up story claiming that 43.5% of the main sale lots have guarantees, while Christie's sale has guarantees on 19.2% of the lots in their corresponding sale.

The Telegraph reports

While London’s Impressionist and Modern art sales are expected to reach new heights next month, the more fashion and investment sensitive Contemporary art sales are likely to tread water.

If they reach their estimate of at least £190 million they will show a slight improvement on last year, but nowhere near the twin peaks of February 2014 or 2015 when they reached up to £295.5 million.

Sotheby’s has the higher value sale this time led by a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat which it has guaranteed to sell with a £14 million estimate. It was last auctioned in 1987, when it sold for £13,000.

As with the Impressionist sales, Sotheby’s has pulled out the stops with guarantees – some 43.5 per cent of the estimated value of its main sale, compared to Christie’s 19.2 per cent of its comparable sale – which should ensure Sotheby's the market leadership it desires for the series.

Source: The Telegraph