The new collections boom: auction houses achieve record results
A Ferrari 410 Sport Spider for over 25 million dollars, Andy Warhol's “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” for 195 million dollars: In times of economic policy uncertainty, marked by inflation such as these, high-priced art and collectibles are sought after in a long time. As a result, auction houses such as Christie's or Sotheby's achieved record results and art fairs become crowd-pullers. What seems absurd at first glance makes perfect sense from a collector's and investor's point of view. This is because the price development of art and collectibles is largely unaffected by events on the financial markets. This is why many investors “flee” to alternative tangible assets that, in addition to attractive return prospects, also offer something for the eye. Find out which auctions have achieved particularly high results and how private investors can benefit from the boom in art and collections even with low investment amounts.
Art and collectibles market on the upswing
Cultural economist Clare McAndrew documents that art is establishing itself as a currency of crisis with “Art Market Report”, which she creates for Art Basel and UBS. According to this, global sales on the art market rose again above pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Sales by dealers and auction houses reached an estimated 65.1 billion dollars in the previous year, which is an increase of 29 percent compared to 2020 and even exceeds 64.1 billion dollars from the pre-crisis year of 2019.
The rapid recovery of the art market as a whole is astonishing. However, the positive balance of the institutional auction segment, which grew by 47 percent to 26.3 billion dollars last year, is particularly remarkable. According to the Art Market Report, revenue from privately sold art in the auction sector also rose by 32 percent to 4.1 billion dollars.
Die Top 3 winners In 2021, their respective auction category included:
- Paintings: Pablo Picasso “Femme assise près d'une fenêtre” (103.4 million dollars)
- Diamonds: Sakura Diamond (29.3 million dollars)
- Classic Cars: McLaren F1 1995 (20.5 million dollars)
- Luxury watches: Grande et Petite Sonnerie (5.3 million dollars)
The positive, high-priced trend in auctions continued in the first half of 2022: The Global sales of major auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips rose by 25 percent to 7.4 billion dollars. In the fine art segment, contemporary and post-war art led the way with 2.5 billion dollars, followed closely by Impressionists and Modernism with 2.4 billion dollars.
These were the top auctions of 2022
Let's first look at the top art auctions of the individual auction houses as part of the renowned New York spring auctions 2022:
Christie's
One of the most traditional auction houses even broke a record this year:
The portrait of Marilyn Monroe “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” by pop artist Andy Warhol auctioned off at auction is worth 195 million dollars “the most expensive work of art of the 20th century that was sold at auction,” as the auction house Christie's announced.
Sotheby's
With total proceeds of 676 million dollars, the auction of the collection of real estate mogul Harry Macklowe in New York was also a new record for auction house Sotheby's. The most expensive work of art was Mark Rothko's painting “No. 7", which went to an unknown buyer from Asia for 82.5 million dollars.
Alberto Giacometti's sculpture “The Nose” was then sold for 78 million dollars, the “Nine Marilyns”, also by Andy Warhol, for 50 million dollars and “Number 17, 1951", a work by Jackson Pollock, won the highest bid ever for a painting by the American artist at 61 million dollars.
phillips
The “20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale” at Phillips, which is well-known in the art scene, grossed 29.9 million pounds with 41 tickets. Bids were submitted from forty countries, 95 percent of the lots were sold. Andy Warhol was also represented at Phillips: “The Star” (Greta Garbo as Mata Hari), created in 1981, fetched a price of 9.6 million dollars.
In addition to art, collectors and investors were also very popular with vintage cars and diamonds. As part of Monterey Car Week in August, for example, classic cars were auctioned off at the highest bids. The most expensive classic car this time was a Ferrari 410 Sport Spider, which changed hands for over 22 million dollars.
For years, the diamonds category has included the rare colored “fancy” diamonds Guarantee for millions in prizes. In April, for example, at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, the De Beers Cullinan Blue Diamond was sold for 57.5 million dollars.
Recently, a new find also caused a sensation: With “The Lulu Rose” A 170-carat pink diamond was discovered in Angola. It is said to be the largest of its kind in hundreds of years. Price point: (Still) unknown.
How private investors can benefit from the boom through digital shares
Of course, very few private investors have millions “on the high edge” to afford a luxury watch, an expensive painting, a Fancy Diamond or Ferrari Sport Spider. And even if so, the purchase of a property cannot yet mean a diversified portfolio of tangible assets. Because this would require assets from various, alternative asset classes that are not accessible to most investors. Be it because there is no liquidity, access to the market or lack of expertise. But even private investors with small budgets can benefit from the attractive market opportunities offered by selected collectibles and real estate thanks to digital shares. You can find out how to do this on the FINEXITY marketplace for digital assets.
