, adding hundreds of online-only sales that allowed people to click-to-bid in timed auctions. The top houses also built telethon-worthy sets so collectors could watch and bid in livestreamed auctions that featured an auctioneer and specialists simultaneously fielding phone bids in real time. Only a handful of auctions in Asia near year’s end allowed bidders to show up in person.
Annual sales figures released in late December by the privately held houses reveal they still suffered, with Sotheby’s $5 billion in sales representing a 12% drop from 2019. Sales at Christie’s fell 22% to $4.5 billion and at Phillips were down 11% to $646 million. Christie’s Chief Executive Guillaume Cerutti said the crisis “came as a shock and a catalyst,” compelling the clubby, air-kiss art world to double down on digital-first strategies. Christie’s expanded customizable features like augmented reality to its site so potential bidders could see how art would look hanging in their homes. As a result,that lacked a livestream element and operated more like eBay amounted to between 8% and 10% of overall revenue, up from 2% the year before, Mr.