It’s going to be an action packed week. Sotheby’s will be offering their American, Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary works of art. Christie’s has settled on offering just Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary (their American selection will be offered next week).
What makes these sales different is the way the salerooms have mixed in ‘other’ things. Sotheby’s will be offering a Ferrari in their Contemporary evening art auction and an O’Keeffe in their evening Impressionist sale (that one should be in their American sale), while Christie’s will be selling a da Vinci in their Contemporary evening sale.
There used to be some sort of order in the way works were presented to the market … cars in auto auctions, Old Masters in Old Master sales, etc. The da Vinci will add at least $100M to their Contemporary sale results (it already has an irrevocable bid) even though it is not a contemporary work of art. Looks like they will do anything to bolster a sale’s results. Today it is all about the money and it seems that anything (even a Ferrari) can be considered art.
Source: Ferrari: Da Vinci, Ferrari Are Star Attractions At $1.6 Billion Auctions – Bloomberg Quint