Sotheby’s $343 Million Sale Led by Jasper Johns’s ‘Flag’– it is interesting to read this writers opinion on the sale. I watched about half of the sale and can tell you that overall, the bidding was slow and it took a great deal of coaxing by the auctioneer to get people to part with their money.
As with most sales, the really good works which carried realistic estimates did well. A small Jasper Johns Flag painting made $36M while Rothko’s No 21 brought $45M (it was estimated to bring $50M) and Warhol’s Liz #3 made $21.4M (est.$15-$20M). In addition, there were a number of big items that failed to find buyers; among them were 3 works by Warhol and Jeff Koons’ Moon (Yellow) which was being sold by Damien Hirst.
Of the 78 works offered, 67 sold (85.9%). Tonight is the Christie’s sale and it will be interesting to see those results.
Jasper Johns “Flag” ($36 million)