Auction Update Review
Week Fourteen Fall 2009, 24 Auctions Archived through 12.13.09
We archived 24 auctions this week.
Twelve thousand one hundred thirty nine lots were offered and 8410 sold for US$19,276,292.
The percentage of lots sold was 69% both for denominated in $ and the basket of other currencies. The percentage of lots sold was the same for the ten auctions achieving the highest average realization and all 24 auctions as a whole. The market simply seemed somewhat constrained.
Christie's continued its run of successful book sales in New York with the Wolfgang A. Herz collection that brought $3,543,974 for the 76% [of the 340 lots offered] that sold. The average lot brought $13,790.
Sotheby's sale of western manuscripts in London on December 8th saw 46 of 53 lots sell for $2,770,712.
We have one more busy week and then the auction season quiets over the holidays.
It's unclear what interpretation to put on recent sales. Americana and images have done well but we'll need to stand back from the flow of numbers to identify the underlying trends. It's a mixed picture.
Bruce McKinney
AE
December 13, 2009