Artist Chris Carnabuci stands earlier than his sculptures of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (L) that includes portray by Laolu Senbanjo in any other case often called Laolu NYC”, at Sotheby’s public sale home in New York on December 9, 2021.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
The Big Three public sale homes hit a document $15 billion in gross sales this 12 months, as a surge in world wealth and a wave of younger, first-time collectors drove gross sales of every part from Basquiats to Birkin luggage.
Christie’s on Monday reported whole gross sales of $7.1 billion for 2021, the best whole in 5 years. Sotheby’s earlier reported whole gross sales of $7.3 billion, the strongest whole within the firm’s 277-year historical past. Phillips mentioned its gross sales rose to $1.2 billion this 12 months, additionally an organization document.
“Every single class is outperforming,” mentioned Guillaume Cerutti, CEO of Christie’s.
The public sale information spotlight the surge in world wealth through the pandemic, as authorities stimulus, central financial institution easing, hovering asset costs and a rebound in client demand created a large wave of liquidity for rich consumers. The increase in crypto and on-line inventory buying and selling additionally spawned a brand new era of younger, rich collectors who began shopping for every part from artwork and traditional automobiles to luxurious items, wine, watches and diamonds on-line.
The most costly work auctioned this 12 months was Pablo Picasso’s large “Femme assise pres d’une fenetre,” which fetched $103.4 million at Christie’s. The second highest was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “In This Case,” which went for $93.1 million.
Driving all the expansion — from the masterpieces on the high to collectible sneakers — was a brand new era of collectors who had by no means earlier than been purchasers of the massive public sale homes. Sotheby’s mentioned 44% of its bidders this 12 months had been new to the public sale home, whereas half of the consumers at Phillips had been new. At Christie’s, 35% of all consumers had been new, with two-thirds getting into by way of on-line gross sales. A 3rd of their new consumers had been millennials.
The rise of non-fungible tokens additionally added to gross sales. Christie’s launched the NFT public sale increase in March with the $69 million sale of Beeple’s “Everydays.” It racked up whole NFT gross sales of $150 million. Sotheby’s reported NFT gross sales of $100 million. It launched Sotheby’s Metaverse, a brand new market for NFT’s, this 12 months.
The luxurious class — which incorporates watches, jewellery, wine, purses and different vogue gadgets — had among the greatest surprises with costs and demand. Phillips Watches noticed an unprecedented “White Glove 12 months,” which means 100% of the heaps supplied at public sale offered, for a complete of $209.3 million.
Sotheby’s and Christie’s each reported luxurious gross sales of round $1 billion, as the rich bid up costs far past the belongings’ estimates. At Sotheby’s, almost two-thirds of luxurious heaps offered for greater than their estimates. Christie’s outcomes had been helped by the $8 million sale of Marie Antoinette’s bracelets, in addition to the $515,000 sale of a Hermes Himalaya Diamond Kelly bag and a 15-carat purple pink diamond that fetched $29 million.
The massive public sale homes additionally profited from the continued power in so-called non-public gross sales, the place belongings are offered on to consumers with out an public sale. Christie’s non-public gross sales hit a document $1.7 billion, whereas Sotheby’s reached $1.3 billion.
Wealthy consumers additionally got here from around the globe, particularly Asia. Asian consumers accounted for almost a 3rd of gross sales at Christie’s and 46% of bids and purchases for heaps over $5 million at Sotheby’s.
“There had been an increasing number of collectors and an unlimited quantity of wealth produced over the previous 12 months in Asia,” Cerutti mentioned. “Those two components — the brand new wealth in Asia, plus the liquidity and the markets and crypto — have helped enormously.”