A Week of London Auctions Leaves Optimistic Mood
Report by Scott Reyburn for Bloomberg News
With the first batch of 2010 Design auctions less than a month away it is a positive sign to see how well the auction market has been doing recently. As reported by Scott Reyburn for Bloomberg News, the string of London auctions that ended last Saturday with Philips de Pury’s sale of Contemporary Art broke records and left collectors with optimistic feelings.
Alberto Giacometti’s bronze sculpture ‘Walking Man I’ shocked the art world on February 3rd when it broke the world record for a price fetched by a work of art at auction selling for $104.3 million at Sotheby’s in London to an anonymous telephone bidder. Overall, Sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London reached above-estimate totals, and Phillips de Pury brought in a strong £6.1 million ($9.6 million) total, falling comfortably within its estimate.
According to London-based collector Amir Shariat , chief executive of Auctor Capital Partners Ltd., as quoted by Reyburn, ‘The market is better than I expected. It’s clearly part of the general mood...’
Although the pattern of the sales showed a stronger demand for better-known contemporary artists, with established names and provenance, the sales started the year off on high note, which we hope continues into March’s Design sales.
For Carol Vogel’s full report on the sale of the Giacommetti sculpture for the New York Times, please visit www.nytimes.com
