In the lead-up to Christie's marquee spring sales, news of a temporary US-China tariff reduction provided relief to its new CEO, Bonnie Brennan. To mitigate financial risk, Christie's relied on substantial third-party guarantees that covered over half of the lots. The sales featured significant collections, yielding a total of $489 million, falling within pre-sale estimates. Although the sell-through rate was an impressive 94%, the bidding was described as shallow, resulting in some consignors facing losses, particularly in the case of artist Lucio Fontana's works that had previously sold for much higher amounts.
I did feel some relief. We continue to monitor it closely.
These irrevocable bids helped achieve a robust sell-through rate of 94%.
On the surface, results were solid... although they came short of their estimates.
The evening also resulted in losses for a few consignors, most notably the owner of Lucio Fontana's galactic canvas.
Collection
[
|
...
]