Auctioneers Figures

Confirming the time-honoured ability of auctioneers to attract vendors in a recession, the UK’s top tier of regional salerooms enjoyed a largely positive 2011.

INCREASING revenues at Sotheby’s have given a further indication of the recovering art market. The company’s latest set of results shows a major turnaround for the first nine months of 2010, going from a loss of around $80m for the equivalent period in 2009 to a profit of $64.7m.

CHRISTIE’S have announced worldwide sales of £1.7bn ($2.57m) for the first half of 2010 – 46 per cent up on the same period for 2009.

SOTHEBY’S first quarter results have been boosted by February’s healthy Contemporary and Impressionist sales in London, showing the company on a decisive upward curve after last year’s slump in revenues.

RUNNING a tighter ship and targeting commissions to bring a better yield have helped Sotheby’s achieve the second biggest quarterly profits in the company’s history.

BEIJING-based auction house China Guardian has published record sales results for 2009.

CHRISTIE’S have announced a 24 per cent year-on-year fall in sales for 2009 to £2.1bn.

THE latest series of contemporary art auctions in New York showed how much the market has fallen since its peak. With sale totals down well over 50 per cent from last year’s autumn series held at the height of the boom, the extent of the damage caused by the current economic distress and diminished confidence amongst buyers was manifest. The question now is will prices stabilise or fall further?

GUARANTEES slashed, costs to follow. That’s the message from Sotheby’s as they announce third quarter losses of $46.2m. And consignors will have to be more realistic about the deals they can secure and their expectations at auction in future.

SOTHEBY’S dependence on the contemporary art market could hardly be clearer than in their latest set of figures.

CHRISTIE’S have announced sales of £1.8bn ($3.5bn) for the first half of 2008, a ten per cent increase on the same period last year.

CONTEMPORARY art may still be heading skywards, but the imminent buyer’s premium rate increases – and Sotheby’s latest set of results – show that pressure at the margins is as intense as ever.

SOTHEBY’S have closed the gap between themselves and Christie’s on worldwide sales in 2007, announcing a record $6.2bn of consoldiated sales to Christie’s $6.3bn.

Spink, the specialist London coin and stamp auctioneers, have announced auction revenues of £23.8m including premium for 2007.

PHILLIPS de Pury more than doubled their auction sales total thanks to the booming market for contemporary art and their increasing presence in London.

THE effect of their new salerooms in Rome and New York saw London book specialists Bloomsbury Auctions post a hammer total of £20.4m for 2007.

SOTHEBY’S have released interim headline sales figures for 2007, which show worldwide auction totals up 44 per cent on 2006 at $5.4bn.

CHRISTIE’S have maintained their lead over their rivals in wine sales thanks mainly to strong totals posted in Europe.

Christie’s have confirmed their position as the art market’s biggest business, announcing 2007 premium inclusive sales of £3.1bn ($6.3bn).

‘Best ever’ year with $600m global sales