Photography Market Report – March 2016

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• Pages: 9
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In 2015, the photography auction market saw

a combination of single-owner and general sales at the three major auction houses in New York, London and Paris.  Indeed, these fetched a total sales value of $36,132,858* (all sales values provided without premium). However, this was the lowest grossing year of photography sales since 2012. It represented a 21.8% year-on-year decline.

…the three main auction houses in 2015 were split the following way as regards the market: Sotheby’s achieved a 28.3% market share, Christie’s had the highest share with 39.2%, and this was followed  by Phillips at 32.5%. In fact, these were not dissimilar from historical averages.  Historically Phillips regaining its share after a decline in 2014. With $11,726,511 in total sales, of all the auction houses Phillips…

Additionally, one should see this in the light of the “175 Masterworks To Celebrate 175 Years Of Photography” auction at Sotheby’s in 2014. This auction pushed average prices of vintage…

Report content:

Auction House Comparison (Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips)

Market share analysis

Photography sales 2006-2015

Auction Indicator: Price-to-estimate ratio

Modern vs Contemporary vs Vintage

Photography market confidence