Christie’s and Sotheby’s Try to Wrangle the Leonard Riggio Estate
The secondary market today is driven by two things: quality and prestige. Often those two things are tied together; after all, the most well respected collectors are usually those with the best collections. When such marquee collectors die, it’s inevitable that Christie’s and Sotheby’s try to outmanuever each other for the estates’ business, as seems to be the case right now over the collection of Barnes and Noble co-founder and former ARTnews Top 200 collector Leonard Riggio, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations. Riggio, who passed away in August 2024, was a profound collector of the Minimalists and a driving force behind the establishment of Dia:Beacon in Upstate New York. It’s almost impossible to avoid mentioning that among the treasures Riggio kept at his Bridgehampton home was Richard Serra’s 300-ton steel sculpture Sidewinder (1999), which was visible from space thanks to Google Earth satellites. Related Articles Among the more than 20 sculptures that graced the lawn of Riggio’s Hamptons estate were Willem de Kooning’s bronze sculpture Seated Woman (1969–81), Mark di Suvero’s Caramba (1984–90), Black Standing Nana (1993-1994) by Niki de Saint …