Following last week’s epic sale of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection at Christie’s, many have been wondering whether the blistering success of that $1.5 billion sale—the largest net revenue in art auction history—would help or hurt the auctions that follow it.
After the sale, it looked like the former theory held true, and that the art market is a singular force in the broader economy.$137.9 million, with 60 percent of the lots selling above their high estimateThe modern art auction brought in $253.3 million on its $237.2 million to $295.3 million pre-sale estimate. This nets out to about 30 million less than the Modern sale brought in last year, which had a net revenue of $282.9 million.
Makes more sense this way:
Rich people get richer in crises