Auction Update Review
Week Three, Fall 2009, Sales Archived through 9.26.09
The drumbeat of the fall auction season now resonates as the days shorten and the rooms come to life.
For the week six sales were archived -
Bloomsbury's Travel, Natural History, Maps & Atlases on the 17th;
Galerie Koller's Books, Prints and Drawings on the 18th;
Dorotheum's Modern Prints on the 21st;
Dominic Winter's Printed Books & Maps, British Topography & Atlases, Maps and Contemporary Prints on the 23rd;
Swann Galleries' 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings on the 24th;
Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary Prints on the 24th
The proceeds for these sales, converted into dollars was $6,044,267. The sell through rate was 71%, the same as the previous week.
As the dollar volume increases there will be continuing tension between rising dollar volumes and the percentage of lots changing hands. The deus ex machina are the undisclosed reserves. The auction houses are insisting on lower reserves. In Europe the reserves are in line while in North America they are coming down more slowly.
Bruce McKinney
AE
9.26.09
