Week of Warhol = $290m

We now have the results on the biggest Week of Warhol ever. Karolina Prawdzik put together this chart from the three auction houses showing their 64 Warhol works of art that were offered ranging from the top lot of the week, Triple Elvis [Ferus Type] to some early illustrations from the 1950s.

Altogether 64 Warhols were offered. 54 of those sold. Remarkably, all of Christie’s Warhols found buyers and only one of the three at Phillips was bought in.

$290m is the total for all of the Warhols. Chistie’s sold $215m; Sotheby’s $71m and Phillips $4m. Lest we give Christie’s too much credit, removing the two top lots from the equestion leaves Christie’s with $63.7m in Warhol sales. So one consignment had a dramatic effect on the entire week’s returns.

For some perspective, it’s worth noting that May of  2011, all three auction houses sold 54 Warhols for a total of $179m. Eighteen months later, In November of 2012, it was 65 Warhols making $200.8m. Two years on, we’re at $290m, a 45% rise.

However, sellers’s appetites were greater than buyers’s. The low estimate without fees was $231m and you can see from the chart, that only about 23 works exceeded the estimates even with the fees added.