Auction Analysis: London Post-War & Contemporary Auctions – March 2017

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LONDON POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY AUCTIONS – MARCH 2017

The post-war and contemporary art evening sales in London this week raised a total of £197,477,000 (excluding buyer’s premium), against a total pre-sale estimate of £161,295,000 to £232,700,000 (this analysis and all results exclude the modern artworks sold in the post-war and contemporary art sales). The sales total between Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips was 54.1% higher than in February 2016, and 66.7% above the July results last year. This was the second highest sales total ever for a London post-war and contemporary evening sales season, the last peak was reached in February 2015.

Christie’s kicked off the auction week in London with a 58 lot strong Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale* on the 7th of March, which achieved £81.6 million. This was comfortably within the pre-sale estimate range of £67.4 million to £101.3 million and 63.7% above their sales total in February 2016.

On the 8th of March Phillips had their evening sale, which achieved a total of £12.2 million. The sale came in just short of the pre-sale estimate range of £13 million to £18.8 million and 27.9% below their sale total in February 2016. This was followed by Sotheby’s, who held their evening sale later on the same day. The auction achieved a strong hammer total of £100.7 million, putting it towards the upper end of the pre-sale estimate range of £80.9 million to £112.6 million. Sotheby’s result was up 63.7% from February 2016 (from £59.4 million).

Sotheby’s took a leading market share of 51.8% (up from 47.1% in February 2016), while Christie’s ended up with a 41.9% market share (up from 39.5% in February 2016), leaving Phillips with a 6.3% market share (down from 13.4% in February 2016).

REPORT CONTENT:

COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE (CHRISTIE’S, SOTHEBY’S AND PHILLIPS).

TOTAL SALES VS ESTIMATE (2008 – 2017).

AVERAGE PRICES 2008 – 2017.

HAMMER VS ESTIMATE RATIOS 2008 – 2017.

AUCTION GUARANTEE ANALYSIS.

AUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS (VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE AUCTION RHYTHM)

TOP AUCTION PRICES.