How Strong Is the Middle Market? Look at Sotheby’s Made in Britain Sale

Reginald Brill, Excavators (10-15k) 80,500 GBP

John Armstrong, Initial Study for the Poster Can Spring Be Far Behind (5-7k) 74,500 GBP

Christopher Le Brun, Marcus Curtius (10-15k) 60k GBP

Ivon Hitchens, Untitled (18-25k) 47,500 GBP

Richard Hamilton, Release (15-18k) 45k GBP

Bridget Riley, Untitled (Fragment 2)(S.5b) (5-7k) 40k GBP

Bridget Riley, Untitled (Fragment 6) (Schubert 5f) (8-12k) 37,500 GBP

Richard Hamilton, Swingeing London 67 (L. 70) (10-15k) 32,500 GBP

We’re constantly assaulted with statistics that tell us the art market is confined to a small number of artists and their works that account for the vast majority of sales value and volume. Though that is definitely true, it does obscure the fact that there seems to be real demand in the lower-value collecting areas.

Don’t believe it? Then look at Sotheby’s recent Made in Britain sale that totaled £2.3m with a number of works selling very competitively (at multiples of the high estimate) but still in the five figure range.