THE RESULTS ARE IN: Phillips de Pury Design Auction

14th November '09, 4:00pm

Phillips de Pury & Company, New York 

This past Saturday, on the 14th of November, Phillips de Pury & Company’s Auction of 20th century and contemporary design brought in a total of $3,589,750 selling 117 out of the available 155 lots. 

This is an improvement on their October Design sale in London, which brought in a total of £1,229,013, and sold only 79 of its 135 lots. The improvement, however, was not across the board. Almost all of the top contemporary pieces went unsold while the ‘mid-century masterpieces’ brought in the big price tags.

The top earner of the day was Jean Royère’s ‘Rare and important pair of “Boule”  armchairs, ca. 1942, which sold for an impressive $482,500 (estimate $200,000 - $250,000). This was followed by Venini’s ‘Pair of hanging lights’, 1930, which brought in more than five-times its high estimate earning $134,500 (estimate $20,000-$25,000).

The renowned Venetian glassworks firm, Venini, sold a selection of other important important items from their archives in the sale, and two of these works rounded out the top three earners, both being sold for $110,500; one was Carlo Scarpa’s ‘Important murrine glass bowl with molato surface’, ca. 1962 (estimate $45,000 - $55,000), and the other was Toni Zuccheri’s ‘Unique monumental “Araba Fenice” sculpture’, 2007 (estimate $45,000 - $55,000).

Important works by big names like Shiro Kuramata, Atelier Van Lieshout, Vincent Dubourg, and Maarten Baas, however, went unsold. Over the last year the trend of the market has been increasing towards mid-century works by names of assured historical value, and with this sale it is clear that this trend shows no signs of stopping.

Prices listed include the Buyer’s premium

For more information please visit www.phillipsdepury.com