Sothebys and Christies: A Comparison of the Biggest Auction Houses

Table Of Content

• The Pattie Boyd Collection
• Hot Lots: 5 Works That Sailed Past Expectations During London’s Fall Auctions
• Auction Rates: The Swinging Price Tags for Buyers and Sellers
• Curating a Collection: The Christie’s Auction House Expert Guide
• Collecting guide: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
• The Second Paris+ Started With a Bang. Could Art Basel’s New Venture Unseat Its Flagship Fair One Day?

He is the man who sold the world’s most expensive work of art, a face familiar to the millions who watch livestream auctions on their computers and phones. Family member Richard Avery said, ‘It is with great pleasure that my sisters and I are able to partner up with the team at Christie’s for this final sale of our family wine library. Bottles in the collection were acquired by different generations of the Avery family that is behind historic Bristol-based wine merchant Averys, founded in 1793. Sotheby’s followed suit with its adjusted buyer premiums in February 2019. Their prices are on par with Christie’s in London, placing 25.0% fee for up to £300,000 and 13.9% on £3 million + items.

The Pattie Boyd Collection

Sotheby’s, on the other hand, was held accountable to release information to its shareholders. Shareholders could thus openly complain when they were unhappy with returns on capital. Until July 2019, they differed in what kind of institution they are. Scott Reyburn of the NY Times paper has explained that Christie’s is privately owned by French billionaire François Pinault, while Sotheby’s was a publicly listed company. Baker and his successors all formed connections with major libraries that helped them sell rare items. When Napoleon died, they sold the books he took with him in exile to St. Helena.

Hot Lots: 5 Works That Sailed Past Expectations During London’s Fall Auctions

In 1823 the firm moved to 8 King’s Street, St. James’s Square (vacated only from 1941 to 1953 because of war damage), where its headquarters remained into the 21st century. After the younger Christie’s death, his two sons, James Stirling and George Henry, took in William Manson as a partner and, later, a brother, Edward Manson. When Thomas J. Woods joined in 1859, the firm took the name Christie, Manson & Woods, and in 1940 it was reorganized as a private limited company.

Vivid blue diamond sells for nearly $44 million at Christie's auction - Reuters

Vivid blue diamond sells for nearly $44 million at Christie's auction.

Posted: Tue, 07 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Auction Rates: The Swinging Price Tags for Buyers and Sellers

Not only can you buy a piece of history from a Royal collection—we recently sold silver from the collection of the current Duke and Duchess of Gloucester—but silver is also a great addition to a dinner table. I recommend acquiring functional objects at first, such as candlesticks, saltcellars, or flatware, which can transform a dining experience and make food taste grander. Nestled in the center of the West Coast’s thriving art scene, Christie’s opened the doors of its signature gallery space in Beverly Hills in April 2017. Our multi-purpose space is dedicated to showcasing auction highlight exhibitions, private selling exhibitions, educational events and panel discussions. With a robust program of exhibitions and events throughout the year, Christie’s Los Angeles provides art collectors and art lovers access to world-class works from around the globe. Our team of specialists welcome the opportunity to assist with any of your buying or selling needs.

In 2024, Christie’s will open a 50,000-square-foot, four-story Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. Absentee biddingTo leave absentee bids, go to the pages of the lots you’re interested in and select ‘Place bid’. Telephone and in-room biddingIf you’d like to register for a telephone bid or to attend the auction in person, please contact Client Services. Christie's Fine Art Storage Services, or CFASS, is a wholly owned subsidiary that runs Christie's storage operation.

Curating a Collection: The Christie’s Auction House Expert Guide

Christie’s Education offers personalised learning for individuals as well as bespoke programmes uniquely designed for organisations that provides unparalleled access to our art world knowledge and expertise. ‘But these wines have now outlived two generations and it would be a disservice to the incredible winemakers to push it to a third. Instead, we want to release them back into the wild for the next generation of enthusiasts and producers to enjoy and be inspired by. Yquem 1921 is a Decanter Wine Legend and a contender for the greatest 20th century vintage from this famous Sauternes estate. The developer, Christie's Inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. As of 2019, Sotheby’s and Christie’s made remarkable sales in different areas.

Christie’s has issued a statement on the situation, noting that they will provide a transparent track of purchases for the future. We recommend checking for how local laws affect auction prices in your area. Especially if you’re in the EU, your purchase of artwork may have royalty fees attached to its artist. However, in June, French-Israeli telecom businessman Patrick Drahi made an offer to buy Sotheby’s for $3.7 billion. This means that Sotheby’s can be more flexible in its deals now that it doesn’t have to justify expensive guarantees or other benefits to shareholders. But this gives comfort to their buyers who would rather not be scrutinized by the public eye.

From 2017 to 2019 I worked on the eponymous Interiors sales at Christie’s before returning to Private Collections last year. Benedict Winter is a Junior Specialist, Private & Iconic Collections and Country House Sales at Christie’s London. Originally from South West England, Winter has been with the company for four-and-a-half years. As he explains here, his love for collecting started at an early age. It comprised 19 pieces weighing more than 13 stones (84 kg) and, spread  on a table, it was over 13 feet (4 m) in length—and all made in the famous Régence style. The surtout was later sold at Christie’s in 1829, purchased by the dealer Garrard who transformed it to sell it off.

Christie’s Education is a specialist institution in the study of art business and the art market, art history and art world ecosystems, curating and connoisseurship. Our teaching philosophy is rooted in a knowledge culture that respects original enquiry and learning and that reflects a commitment to principles of equality, diversity and inclusivity. We are the only academic institution wholly-owned by an auction house. Our programmes have been developed to provide focused and intensive training for students looking for a career in the art world. ‘Many of these wines, with this provenance, will never come to auction again,’ the auction house said. Both of them market themselves for having fantastic jewelry collections.

In part to answer competition from rival auction house Sotheby’s, the firm began expanding beyond the United Kingdom by opening offices or salesrooms in Rome (1958), Geneva (1968), and Tokyo (1969). Christie’s became a public company in 1973 and was purchased by French investor François Pinault in 1998. The firm’s first Paris auction occurred in 2001, soon after the French government removed its traditional controls over auctioneering in France. Aside from being the most expensive painting ever sold at auction, the Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) also has one of the most mysterious and obscure histories. Likely a commission for the French monarch Louis XII from around 1500, the painting spent most of its life trading hands within the British aristocracy, disappearing and reappearing in various collections over the centuries.

I joined Christie’s in 1997 and worked in Paris and Geneva before returning to London. I am particularly fond of Chinoiserie and Japonism in European ceramics, as well as Chinese export porcelain—there can be great results when cultures mix. I also love the late 19th century as an era, particularly works by the Minton factory and Theodore Deck. The Luxury category made up 36 percent of new buyers, the house said, and 35 percent of all buyers were new to Christie’s, with over half of them transacting online. The Classics category, which includes Old Masters, antiques, and memorabilia, saw the sharpest increase from 2021, with $789 million total this year—a 37 percent bump over last year. Christie’s announced today that, in 2022, it brought in a breathtaking $8.4 billion, many because of a group of single-owner collection sales.

The Paul Allen sale alone brought in $1.6 billion, with five works breaking the $100 million dollar mark. Four million people tuned in online, roughly the same number of spectators that would fill the seats of the 40 largest sports stadiums in the United States. The Allen sale beat out the two-pronged Macklowe sale at Sotheby’s, which brought in $922 million, and became the highest-grossing single-owner sale to ever come to auction. ‘For over a century my father, grandfather (and maybe even a couple from great grandfather Joseph) have discovered and amassed this incredible collection of truly global wines.

Questions about its authenticity, given the host of well-known Salvator copies by da Vinci’s pupils, kept the painting out of the public eye until it came to light that this particular work could be the long sought-after original. Extensive restoration and study by a team at NYU led by Dianne Dwyer Modestini seemed to confirm this, and prices for subsequent auctions of the piece rose sharply. In 2017, it was listed at Christie’s and sold for a staggering $450.3 ($475.4) million to the Saudi Arabian government. At more than twice the price for the next highest-grossing public auction, Salvator Mundi tops the list of the most expensive artworks ever sold by Christie’s or anyone.

On the death of Frances Brody in 2009, the painting came to Christie’s who auctioned it to a private bidder for $106.5 ($126.4) million, the highest price ever paid for an artwork at the time. For those collectors, the best course of action open to them is to consult the auction houses. These are professional organizations built around the acquisition, appraisal, and sale of truly rare pieces of art, obtained from the finest private collections in the world. Here, even the most particular of art collectors can usually discover the pieces they’ve been dreaming about, but for those who persist even to the rarified air of this group, at the top of the pyramid sits Christie’s. James Christie the Younger assumed management of the auction house after his father’s death in 1803, becoming an expert on ancient Greek and Italian vases and sculpture.

During her time in college, she worked in a Miami-based art gallery. She has attended major art fairs like Art Basel and Art Miami, recording new exhibitions and art trends in her articles. In 2018, she studied abroad in France, where she learned about art history in some of the world’s major museums. Since graduating, she has aimed to keep learning while passing on her experiences to those who are novices like she once was. As the “duopoly” of auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s only real competition right now is each other.