Sotheby’s and Christie’s Look to Luxury as a Coronavirus Antidote
In 2019, worldwide auction sales of art and antiques raised $17.9 billion, down 7 percent on the previous year, according to data provided by Rachel Pownall, a professor of art and finance at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The global market for secondhand luxury goods like jewelry and watches was valued at about 21 billion euros, or about $23 billion, growing at 8 per cent a year, according to a report published in September by Boston Consulting Group.
So the auction houses’ move into luxury appears to be a financial no-brainer. But are sales of luxury goods actually increasing revenues?
Detailed analysis of sales figures during this most challenging of years, conducted by the London-based art market research company Pi-eX, shows that as of Nov. 20, Sotheby’s had held 160 specialist live and online auctions of watches, jewelry and handbags, as against 48 in the same period in 2019. Yet revenues of $339 million were up just 4 percent. Christie’s has so far held a less aggressively expanded roster of 38 equivalent sales, which raised $251 million, down 42 percent from last year, according to Pi-eX.
“The auction houses are scaling in terms of the number of auctions, but not yet money,” said Christine Bourron, Pi-eX’s chief executive.
Ms. Bourron pointed out that many of these proliferating luxury sales contained just a few lots. A record-breaking $560,000 pair of Michael Jordan sneakers, for instance, was the only item in a Sotheby’s online auction in May. By preserving luxury items’ aura of exclusivity and authenticity, the auction houses make it more difficult to increase revenues, Ms. Bourron said. “They’re unable to do it by increasing volume.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/arts/design/auction-houses-luxury-sothebys-christies.html