Auction Analysis: Italian Sales in London – October 2017

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London’s Italian Art Evening Sales are up 20.5% from 2016. However the results fall below expectations.

The Italian evening sales during London’s Frieze week raised a total of £42,496,000 (excluding buyer’s premium), just below the low end of the pre-sales estimate range of £48,415,000 to £68,790,000. The sales total between Sotheby’s and Christie’s came in 20.5% above the October 2016 result but was 39.4% lower than October 2015 when the Italian sales had their highest recorded result.

Sotheby’s was first out with their Italian Sale, In Context Italian Art, which raised a hammer result of £15.25 million, just below the pre-sale estimate range of £19.5 million to £27.2 million. For this years edition of their Italian evening sale, Sotheby’s had broadened the concept to include other international artists in the post-war period. Sotheby’s result was 21% lower than the equivalent sale in October 2016.

Christie’s followed the day after with their evening sale, Thinking Italian, which generated £27.25 million (hammer result), just short of the pre-sale estimate range of £28.9 million to £41.6 million. The result was 72.4% higher than the Italian sale in October 2016.

Report Content:

COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE (SOTHEBY’S & CHRISTIE’S).

TOTAL SALES VS ESTIMATE (2005 – 2017).

AVERAGE PRICES 2005 – 2017.

TOP 10 AUCTION PRICES

AUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS (VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE AUCTION RHYTHM)

TOP 25 ‘ALL TIME’ ITALIAN AUCTION RECORDS