Colin Gleadell has his eye on the YBA market and an important test coming up at Christie’s:

American commodities trader Frank Gallipoli, who bought a number of works that were in Charles Saatchi’s groundbreaking 1997 exhibition, Sensation, is to sell three of them – by Jenny Saville, Gary Hume and Chris Ofili – at Christie’s next month, together with two bull’s heads in formaldehyde by Damien Hirst and appliqué blankets by Tracey Emin. The six works, which Christie’s describes as the property of an East Coast collector, are estimated to fetch between £2.5 million and £3.5 million, or more with the buyers’ premium added, and will form a mini test of the market for the Yong British Artists (YBAs) of the 1990s, which some believe to be past its sell-by date.

Having said that, Gleadell is quick to point out that three of the works are poised to set records for the artists in question: Saville, Emin and Gary Hume. What the Hirst works will do is anyone’s guess.

Market News: Christie’s tests the YBA market (Telegraph)