At first glance, the midseason sales in New York would not seem to be a signal of much market confidence. These sales can be a grab bag of works brought to market to measure collectors’ appetites and leftovers from big estates. The sales themselves are a good place to take the temperature of the market—here’s where business gets done in a way that isn’t really masked by guarantees or anyone protecting a market—as well as events that are otherwise hard to generalize. That said, let’s give it a try.
As I reported last week, Sotheby’s had solid results with both its various owners sale and its Abrams family collection sale, with most works selling near the estimates and sell-through rates around the industry average. Meanwhile, Christie’s and Phillips posted hammer ratios—which is the total hammer price divided by the aggregate presale estimate, or a measure of how strong the bidding was in the sale—that were on the weaker side.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
