THE NY AUCTION SCENE
Why treck the halls of dozens of galleries or turn to an expensive professional dealer when you decide to buy a work of art?
Whether you are a fine art professional or are just looking to buy a work of art to add a sophisticated touch to the décor of your house or apartment, New York City’s auction houses offer a wide range of art and antiques which can often be purchased for far less than you would pay in an antique store or an art gallery.
Of course, as the saying goes, there’s no free lunch.
RAW FACTS IN THE ART WORLD
The economics of art auctions has driven most major galleries to charge a buyers premium, which is added to the hammer price. The practice began in 1975 when Christies added a 10% premium on the hammer price of art sold at the venerable auction house. But many see this as a small price to pay.
The buyers’ premium covers several services auction houses provide, including reporting details of each piece including provenance, as well as an artwork’s quality and estimated price value.
Major auction houses, including Doyle, Phillips, and Swann followed Christies’ suit, with premiums now ranging between 25% to 28% of the hammer price. However, in early 2024 Sotheby’s announced that it was cutting its buyers premium to 20% on works sold up to $6 million, and only 10% on the price that exceeded that amount.
It remains to be seen if this rate cut will attract buyers back to the venerable auction house.
ART PLAYERS
The fact is that bidders set the tone of any auction and determine the prices that various items sell for.
Prices of artworks sold at auction can often reflect the importance of the original collector rather than the merits of the art itself. For example, record prices were set for African American art at the auction of the collection of the Johnson Publishing Company, held at Swann Galleries in 2020. Some artworks went under the hammer at more than 80 times the estimated price of works by Robin Harper and Barbara Johnson Zuber, whereas works by better known African American artists like Jacob Lawrence and Richmond Barthe struggled to go above the estimated price range.
A similar auction at Doyle for the estate of Broadway impresario Stephen Sondheim drew a large crowd of over enthusiastic admirers of the man (even repeatedly cheering as record prices were set for everything from 19th century French game boards to well-worn books from Sondheim’s library).
CHOICES, CHOICES
Most auction houses organize a sale around a given theme (modern art, travel posters, photography, etc.).
Almost all auction houses offer several ways to participate. You can attend previews to examine the art offered at a particular auction sale. You can fill a form to get a paddle number if you will attend the auction in person, or you can do phone bidding (in which a house employee calls before each work comes up for auction), or you can leave a bid price, on the understanding that you will win the auction as long as your bid is the highest offered.
Several hybrid art websites such as First Dibs, Etsy and Artsy have gotten into the game, by setting up variations of a ‘silent’ auction. Bidders can register and place bids, anonymously, as a clock indicates time left to bid. When the countdown is finished the artwork is sold to the highest bidder.
Regardless of whether you bid at a conventional auction or through various electronic variations, if you have won the bid, the auction house or online platform will send an email notice within a day or two containing an invoice. You can then arrange to pick up the work (although many auction houses have affiliations with art shipping firms), and pay for the works you successfully bid on.
There are many auction followers who use an art sale as a way to adjust values of other works in their collections.
Whether you have a desire to buy art, to view collectibles fit for a museum, or just want to enjoy the sometimes dramatic play between competing bidders, auctions provide a practical way to allow buyers to get works of art they want at prices they are willing to pay.
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