All posts tagged: Sotheby’s

Christie’s and Bonhams Quietly Hike Buyers’ Fees

Christie’s and Bonhams Quietly Hike Buyers’ Fees

Published by Jenni Sidey

Christie’s and Bonhams have both quietly raised the fees they charge buyers. The charges, which auction houses like to call “buyer’s premiums,” are added on top of a lot’s hammer price and are a key source of revenue for the houses.    At Christie’s, effective September 1, the house is charging 28% of the hammer price of each lot up to and including £1.5 million or $2 million; 22% of the hammer price from £1.5 million or $2 million up to and including £6 million or $8 million; and 15% of the hammer price above that threshold. The changes affect all departments except wine and were instituted “following an internal business review,” according to a press statement sent to ARTnews.  Source link

Art and algorithms at Sotheby’s

Art and algorithms at Sotheby’s

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A double major in computer science and math, Shen credits lessons from MIT—along with a lifelong passion for drawing—with shaping her career. Her favorite class was Project Laboratory in Mathematics, where students present creative answers to intricate math puzzles. “The class helped me talk about what I do with different audiences,” she says.  Though she appreciates elegant algorithms, she understands when they’re impractical: “You can build a super-sophisticated algorithm, but if it doesn’t bring more audience engagement, it doesn’t really matter.”  Read more at www.technologyreview.com/alumni-profiles. Source link

Sotheby’s Lands 0M Blaquier Collection of Impressionist Masterpieces

Sotheby’s Lands $450M Blaquier Collection of Impressionist Masterpieces

Published by Jenni Sidey

Just when it looked like the major auction houses had exhausted the supply of trophy consignments, another heavyweight collection has surfaced. Sotheby’s has secured the collection of the late Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier, a group of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces said to be worth around $450 million, according Artnet News. The consignment is expected to anchor the upcoming auction season and includes paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and others. Source link

A Jersey Worn by Knicks’ Jalen Brunson in NBA Finals Fetches M.

A Jersey Worn by Knicks’ Jalen Brunson in NBA Finals Fetches $1 M.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Following the New York Knickerbockers’ historic win in the 2025–26 NBA season finals, Sotheby’s New York sold a jersey worn by point guard Jalen Brunson on Wednesday for just over $1 million. It was the Knicks’ first championship win in 53 years, and the jersey set a new record for any piece of Knicks memorabilia. The house’s expert, Brahm Wachter, had estimated it could make in excess of $1 million. Opened on June 30, the sale of finals memorabilia concluded Wednesday, realizing $2.9 million. The sale drew more than 400 registered bidders, said the house, nearly 30% of whom were new to Sotheby’s. New Yorkers accounted for one-third of all sale registrants. Source link

Why Billionaires Are Buying Dinosaur Fossils as the Next Trophy Collectible

Why Billionaires Are Buying Dinosaur Fossils as the Next Trophy Collectible

Published by Jenni Sidey

For years, the trophy object of choice for the ultra-wealthy was relatively predictable: the Picasso, the Rothko, the rare Patek Philippe watch, maybe a Basquiat large enough to dominate the living room of a newly purchased penthouse, or, more recently, Air Jordans worn by the legend himself at a championship game. But lately, another kind of status symbol has been muscling its way into auction catalogs, gallery exhibitions, and billionaire wish lists: dinosaurs. This summer, Sotheby’s will offer “Gus,” a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton estimated at $20 million to $30 million, the highest estimate ever placed on a dinosaur fossil. The specimen, excavated over several years in South Dakota, stretches roughly 38 feet long and stands more than 12 feet tall. Sotheby’s is billing it as one of the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever discovered. Source link

M. Lichtenstein Comes to Christie’s, Joining His Priciest Works

$60 M. Lichtenstein Comes to Christie’s, Joining His Priciest Works

Published by José Betancourt

A 1960s canvas by Pop master Roy Lichtenstein, coming from the collection of a legendary New York collector-dealer who famously patronized the Pop artists, could become one of the artist’s top works to sell at auction. Anxious Girl (1964) bears an estimate of between $40 million and $60 million. If it achieves its high estimate, it will be his second-priciest work at any public sale. The painting, which will lead the house’s marquee 20th-century art evening sale on May 18, comes from the holdings of Holly Solomon and her husband Horace. Source link

M. Wingate Collection Comes to Sotheby’s, Led by M. Giacometti

$53 M. Wingate Collection Comes to Sotheby’s, Led by $25 M. Giacometti

Published by José Betancourt

The collection of modern and contemporary art built over some seven decades by David and Shoshanna Wingate will come to auction at Sotheby’s New York and London over evening and day sales on May 19 and 20. The group of over 50 works, including canonical artists like Alberto Giacometti, Wassily Kandinsky, Roy Lichtenstein, Kenneth Noland, Mark Rothko, and Varvara Stepanova, is estimated to sell for between $37 million and $53 million. Leading the collection and accounting for as much as half its value is Giacometti’s La Clairière (Composition avec neuf figures), conceived in 1950 and cast in 1960; the work is estimated at between $18 million and $25 million. Also by the Swiss artist is Buste d’homme (New York I), estimated at $2 million–$3 million. Source link

Sotheby’s Sued by Cushman & Wakefield Over .2 M. Commission

Sotheby’s Sued by Cushman & Wakefield Over $10.2 M. Commission

Published by José Betancourt

Sotheby’s has been sued for allegedly failing to pay a $10.2 million commission tied to the $510 million sale of its former New York headquarters, according to a report by Artnet News.  The lawsuit, filed April 9 in New York State Supreme Court by the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, centers on the auction house’s 2025 sale of its longtime home at 1334 York Avenue to Weill Cornell Medicine. The brokerage firm claims it helped secure the medical school as a tenant in 2023, a deal it says “laid the groundwork” for the eventual sale and triggered a contractual right to a 2 percent commission.  Source link

An Analysis of the Mid-Season Sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips

An Analysis of the Mid-Season Sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips

Published by José Betancourt

If the $7.6 million paid for a four-foot-tall set of smiling wooden bears has anything to do with it, the price point for the mid-season sales at the major auction houses might be about to go up. Last Thursday, Christie’s sold Jeff Koons’s 1988 sculpture Winter Bears (1988) with a pre-sale estimate of $3.8 million–$5 million, the highest valued work ever to appear in a mid-season sale. That price point is more often seen in the major marquee evening sales. Koons made the piece for his famous “Banality” exhibition in 1988 (it was fabricated with historical Rococo techniques); the one that just sold at Christie’s, from the collection of Barbara Jakobson, is number 1 of an edition of 3 plus one artist proof. Edition 2 is in the Tate’s collection, and number 3 and the AP are in private collections (the latter sold at Christie’s in 2011 for $4.7 million). Source link

Sotheby’s Hikes Fees, Franz Marc Restitution Battle, and More

Sotheby’s Hikes Fees, Franz Marc Restitution Battle, and More

Published by Jenni Sidey

Good Morning! A restitution battle over a Franz Marc painting in the collection of the Folkwang Museum in Germany heats up. As of last Friday, Sotheby’s has raised its buyers’ fees worldwide. British artist and Turner Prize winner Tai Shani has withdrawn a Phaidon monograph following sexual assault allegations against owner Leon Black revealed in the latest Epstein files. The Headlines FEE HIKE. Sotheby’s has raised its buyer’s premiums worldwide, with the move coming into effect last Friday on February 13, The Art Newspaper wrote. These non-negotiable fees, added on top of a lot’s hammer price, are a key revenue source for auction houses, which have felt the pinch from a three-year art market downturn. Under the new structure, lots sold in New York for up to $2 million now carry a 28 percent premium, up from 27 percent. The mid-tier fee remains 22 percent but now applies to lots between $2 million and $8 million (previously $1 million–$8 million). Premiums for works above $8 million stay at 15 percent. Sotheby’s declined to comment. The move follows similar adjustments at Christie’s and Phillips , where …