Christie’s Post-war & Contemporary Evening Sale occurred at King’s Street last night. The 58 lots achieved a sale total of £86.2m ($172.3m), just above the pre-sale low estimate of £80m. Only 83% of the lots sold.
The most expensive lot of the night was a set of three self-portrait studies by Francis Bacon, 1975, that went for £17.3m ($34.5m). Jeff Koon’s monumental Balloon Flower (Magenta), which has been on display in St. James’ Square down the street from Christie’s as it was too large to be in the auction house, sold barely above estimate for £12.9m ($25.6m) – although that was a world auction record price for Koons. And Lucien Freud’s Naked Portrait with Reflection, 1980, went for only £11.8m ($23.4m) compared to its pre-sale estimate of £15m.
14 of the lots last night had guarantees on them – minimum prices the auction house agrees to pay the seller. If the sale price is higher than the guarantee, the consignor and house usually come to an agreement to split the excess. If the guaranteed work fails to sell, the auction house (or a guarantor) will pay for the lot outright and own it.
Many art market professionals noted that Christie’s estimates for last night were a bit on the high side and, while there is nothing wrong with the market, buyers won’t buy when prices look high. So, a Fontana and a Hirst, among others, failed to sell last night.
The Morning and Afternoon sales are today.
1 response so far ↓
Kara // July 2, 2008 at 11:37 pm |
Hey Kaki, another article I thought you’d like (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2bfe5400-445e-11dd-b151-0000779fd2ac.html) and you’ll be happy to know, it says some of the same things you already did. :)