Christie’s New York Western Art sale in January delivered record-breaking results across several categories. The two-part auction, Visions of the West: The William I. Koch Collection, held January 20–21, realized just over $84.1 million with fees, making it the most valuable single-owner Western Art sale ever staged at auction, by a factor of three.
The evening sale was led by Frederic Remington, who reset his own auction record twice in the same evening. The top-selling lot, Coming to the Call (1905), achieved $13.29 million (est. $6M–$8M, 66% above estimate), establishing a new high for the artist. Less than 15 minutes earlier, Remington’s An Argument with the Town Marshall sold for $11.85 million (est. $4M–$6M, 97% above estimate), briefly holding the record before being surpassed. Following suit and rounding out the top three lots, all by the same artist, was the bronze sculpture Coming Through the Rye, which garnered $9.95 million (est. $4M–$6M, 66% above estimate).
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Of the top five lots sold, four broke artist records, including Charles Marion Russell’s Dust at $5.81 million (est. $5M–$7M) and Alfred Jacob Miller’s The Buffalo Hunt at $4.71 million (est. $2M–$3M, 57% above estimate). The Miller work reclaimed its own auction record, which it had held from 2002 to 2012, when it originally sold for $1.7 million at Sotheby’s.
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The following day saw equally compelling momentum. The top lot was Charles Marion Russell’s The Whoop-Up Trail. Estimated at $1.2–$1.8 million, the painting achieved $3,247,000, more than doubling its low estimate (80% above estimate). It was followed by Frederic Remington’s An Apache, which sold for $1,143,000 (est. $600,000–$800,000, 43% above estimate). In third position was Maynard Dixon’s Cattle Country (California Coast Range). Estimated at $250,000–$350,000, the work realized $990,600, nearly tripling its low estimate and ranking among the strongest over-performers of the entire sale (183% above estimate).
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Beyond the top three lots, a new record was set for David Mann’s Buffalo Hunt, which sold for $66,040 against an estimate of $7,000–$10,000 – a whopping 560% above estimate.
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Across both sessions, the auction achieved approximately 165% of its low estimate, with a sell-through rate of roughly 95% by lot.
In total, 71 lots sold across the evening and day sessions. Of those, 52 sold above their high estimates, 13 sold within estimate, and just six sold below their low estimates. The evening sale alone saw nearly 70% of lots exceed their high estimates, while the day sale performed even better, with roughly three-quarters of sold lots clearing the top end of their estimate ranges.