It is somewhat cruel and unnecessary to dwell on the resale of a once hot artist. And it is always worth remembering that any completed sale has a buyer who wants the work. But it did not go unnoticed that Jacob Kassay’s once desperately-sought silver work, in the smaller size of 48 inches, sold at Sotheby’s late last week during the day sale for £25,000.
The same work changed hands in London four and a half years ago for £91,250. As a price comparison, the work lost 73% of its value, even more in dollar terms. With the fees paid, the owner barely got enough back to cover four years of carrying costs.
At the height of their popularity, in 2013, an 84 inch Kassay made $317k and a 48 inch work made $290k in May of 2011. Among the top prices paid for Kassay, this work was pretty far down the list of public prices at number 23. Clearly there were far worse offenders than this consignor.