1st Quarter Auction Review 2017

• Analyst:
• Pages: 18
• Access: Analyst

Auction sales gather momentum in Q1 of 2017

Overall auction sales by Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips fell by 25% in Q4 in 2016. However, the first three months of this year shows total auction sales up 61.8% compared to the same quarter last year, amounting to $1.53 billion compared to $942.5 million in 2016.

Auction rescheduling pays off

With Asian art buyers playing an increasing important role, the decision to move the traditional winter sales from early February to early March, avoiding Chinese New Year, clearly paid off. The total sales value of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary art increased by 46% from 2016.

Christie’s takes the lead in Q1 with a doubling of sales from last year

Christie’s reported a 115.9% increase in auction sales compared to Q1 last year, primarily driven by the sale of Important Chinese Art From The Fujita Museum. This Christie’s auction made a total of $262.8 million in sales. Even if we excluded this unique auction, the sales increase from last year would still be 49.4%, significantly higher than Sotheby’s 28% sales growth. Christie’s increased its Q1 market share from 41.9% in 2016 to 55.9% in 2017.