Results: Christie's London Travel and Vintage Poster

I posted about a year ago on the increasing value and interest in travel posters (click HERE to see original post).  Christie's London just completed a sale of Travel and Vintage posters.  The sale offered 343 lots, with 298 selling for a total of $1.27 million including buyers premium.  The sale showed a strong 87% buy through rate, and achieved a value base rate of 90%.

The top selling lot was by Herbert Bayer (1900-1985,SECTION ALLEMANDE EXPOSITION, lithograph in colours, 1930, selling for $48,540 against an estimate of $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 (see image). I would expect there now to be upward price pressure on Bayer posters. The top three lots all sold for over $35,000.00 each, and all with high estimates of $12,000.00 and below.

Christie's reported on the sale

This was the best Travel and Vintage Posters sale ever held at Christie’s, since the department began in 1982 and confirms Christie’s place as the market leader for this category. These exceptional results demonstrate the great International appeal of the best in 19th and 20th century graphic design.

We are delighted that the exceptional Private Collection of London Transport and Vintage Posters was 100% sold, realising a total of £234,038 / $378,673 / €266,335 – far surpassing the pre-sale estimate of £140,000.

Herbert Bayer’s design for Section Allemande was the top lot, whilst excellent prices were achieved for Russian avant-garde artists such as Antoly Belsky and the Stenberg Brothers. The saleroom was full, with bids coming from the room, telephones, and via Christie’s LIVE. 39% of the sale was either bought or directly underbid online from all over the world, including clients hailing from the UK, US, Germany, Belgium, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Norway