Fall print sales post healthy results: estimates were exceeded, most prints found buyers but few records were set at the major autumn print auctions in New York - news

This season, Sotheby's deposit more troops in the field and vanquished Christie's by means of sheer force of numbers.

upon Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 2003 Sotheby's proffered no fewer than 837 lots--a valiant move in light of the political and economic uncertainties of new months. Yet, confounding all skeptics, the auction house sold 90 percent of the apportionments on offer. This is a actual strong result, even in the best of times, and it pushed its gros for the sale to a healthy $78 million. Eight of the top 10 apportionments sold at or beyond the high extreme point of their estimates, implying that there was definite enthusiasm among the bidders. In the words of Mary Bartow, director of Sotheby's prints department, "We are extremely pleased with the flows of our sale, which throw back the overall strength and deepness of the print market."

The succes of Sotheby's sale may have been partially owed to the lavishness of its catalog. In a number of instances, half- and full-page entries were granted to prints alone expected to bring $5,000 or in like manner Usually, this is an honor reserv for pieces awaited to bring five- or six-figure prices. by means of comparison, the Christie's catalogue routinely crammed three or more images onto each page, making it appear far les opulent

The Sotheby's sale got not on to a roaring start when 127 of its first 129 fates found buyers. This group consisted of prints through James Abbott McNeill Whistler from the collection of the late Louis B Dailey. Dailey, an attorney and champion tennis player, had concentrated upon purchasing high-quality impressions in real good condition. Ultimately, he amassed what Sotheby's described as "one of the largest collections of Whistlers in private hands." Thus, this sale exhibited a rare opportunity for collectors, and they worn out no less than $860,000 upon his prints.

Another noteworthy, notwithstanding that less lucrative, single-owner consignment was that of Rosemary Primont Okun Okun was a night scholar at the Cooper Union art place of education in New York from 1949 to 1951 and, years later, she decided to donate several prints--one Jasper John sum of two units Robert Rauschenbergs and one Joan Miro--to her alma mater. The four fetched more than $130000 generating much-need stocks for an institution which has been pleading need in recent years.

The Christie's prints auction not to be found the numbers game this season. Its one-day sale held upon Nov. 4 offered only 379 dooms grossing a total of $48 million. Eighty-five percent of the items upon offer sold, but the auction house's vexed question was not having more items to sell

Of course, as Christie's has been quick to point on the outside it trounced Sothehy's last spring, when it sold prints worth more than $10 million. Therefore, Christie's has been trumpeting that it bested Sotheby's for the year 2003 Nevertheless, it finished the year with a whimper, not a bang.

American participation in the Christies sale prov to be a double-edged sword. While nine of the top 10 fates at the sale were purchased by means of American dealers and collectors, a number of pieces made by means of American printmakers fell flat. In particular, sum of two units major drypoints by Mary Cassatt, which had been wait fored to fetch as much as $220000 total, failed to find buyer Furthermore, individual of Winslow Homer's few original prints, "Eight Bells," (est: $50000 to $70000) also failed to find a buyer

Like Sotheby's, Christie's also boasted a significant single-owner consignment. The St Louis Art Museum had consigned 50 prints through the artist Max Beckmann, the go [i]or[/i] pass ons of which were to benefit the museum's acquisitions fired. Although the artist is best known for his early European work, in the last years before he died, he mov to St Louis where he taught at the Washington University place of education of Fine Arts. In the extreme point it seemed that the pieces the museum had consigned to Christie's were not quite as desirable as the Whistler prints, which Dailey had consigned to Sotheby's; 88 percent of the Beckmann's lay the foundation of buyers versus 98 percent of the Whistler's. Still, the more than $400000 they biged accounted for almost 10 percent of the Christie's sale total.

There is single last notable addendum to Christie's print season. upon Nov. 11 and 12, Christie's sold the collection of Dorothy C Miller, individual of the first curators of the Museum of recent Art in New York. Although the headlines focused upon her Jasper Johns painting "Gray Numbers," which fetched more than $5 million, another Jasper John print in her collection, "False Start I," fetched $65725 In all, the prints from her collection garnered just more than $250000 which should be added to the Christie's season total.

In conclusion, when the sum of two units big houses do battle nearest it will be interesting to diocese if Christie's brings more troops

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