Kelly Crow responds to Colin Gleadell’s sleuthing out of Sotheby’s first half numbers with these details of Christie’s worldwide sales in the Wall Street Journal. Overall, Christie’s posted $2.57b in sales with 10% of the business coming from private sales ($274m.)
That was a 43% rise over the previous year which included the landmark Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé sale. It is also a figure that is the second highest total for the company. The rest of the numbers are equally impressive:
- $853 million of Impressionist and modern art, up 37.4%;
- $460.7 million of postwar and contemporary art, up 139%
- $368.2 million of Asian art, up 120.6%%.
- Christie’s sold $227.3 million of jewelry, jadeite and watches during the first half. Asian buyers paid for 70% worth of Christie’s jewels, compared to 41% last spring, Christie’s said.
- In the U.S., Christie’s art sales rebounded 116% to $999.6 million compared to last year, while sales at Christie’s London salesroom on King Street totaled $675.2 million, twice its total a year ago.
- In Hong Kong, Christie’s sold $300.7 million of art, up 132%.
- In Dubai, one of the sales centers hit hardest by the art crash, sales climbed to $23 million, up from $9.1 million during the first half of last year.
- Sales remain relatively flat at Christie’s for Russian, Old Masters and 19th-century art. Sales also slid for decorative furniture, including the 20th century decorative arts department where sales dropped 79% to $18.9 million.
Art Sales Revive from their Swoon (Wall Street Journal)
