SOTHEBY'S was most successful in pushing Hammer Prices
above the initial Low Estimates of its sold artworks,
reaching total Hammer Prices of 41M GBP
versus 29M GBP for CHRISTIE'S and 15M GBP for PHILLIPS. |
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| THE FACTS: |
| The top 3 auction houses adopted radically different strategies:
CHRISTIE'S opted for more artworks (37 sold lots out of 41 lots auctioned) with lower Low Estimates (365,946 GBP average Low Estimate per sold lot)
SOTHEBY'S went ahead with less works (31 sold lots out of 34 lots auctioned) but with higher Low Estimates (729,839 GBP average Low Estimate per sold lot)
PHILLIPS presented the smallest number of works (24 sold lots out of 28 auctioned lots) with Low Estimates in between these of the previous two auction houses (540,000 GBP average Low Estimate per sold lot). |
The performances of the auction houses varied significantly:
SOTHEBY'S generated the largest surplus (18M GBP) above its already "high" Total Low Estimates of 23M GBP enabling it to reach a total Hammer Prices of 41M GBP.
PHILLIPS showed the poorest performance with only 2M GBP surplus above its original total Low Estimates of 13M GBP.
CHRISTIE'S overall performance was in between that of the other auction houses as it generated a 15M GBP surplus from its total Low Estimates of 14M GBP, resulting in total Hammer Prices of 29M GBP.
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| HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: |
| Number of lots sold historically at Contemporary Art Evening Sales in October in London |
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Except for PHILLIPS, the number of artworks sold in October 2016 at the London Contemporary evening sales was the lowest since 2010.
For SOTHEBY'S and PHILLIPS, this was the 2nd year decline after the pick of 2014.
Overall sales at the London Contemporary evening auctions in October have not been growing in volume over the past 6 years.
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| Average Low Estimates(*) offered historically at Contemporary Art Evening Sales in October in London |
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Average Low Estimates of artworks sold at the London Contemporary evening sales have been growing since 2010. The average almost tripled at SOTHEBY'S from 268K GBP in 2010 to almost 730K in 2016.
2016 however saw a sharp decline, with sold artworks featuring lower average Low Estimate (either because auction houses chose to list artworks with lower Low Estimates or because the market demands Lower Estimates).
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| (*) based on sold artworks at Contemporary art evening auctions at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips in October in London. |
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For more information or questions contact Pi-eX Research |
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