Accounting for auctions: the season's print and photography auctions reveal a variety of trends that may soon trickle down to the published art market

Imagine being a fortune teller reading from one side 2,700 tea leaves searching for patterns hidden therein. similar is the task of sifting end the 2,700 prints and photographs auctioned this season at the major sales held at Sotheby's and Christie's. Is it possible to divine sales patters? Ye indeed. And the novels for the print world is rather promising.

Earlier in 2002 the auction market was exceedingly poor. This was evidenced by means of a number of moves within the industry, eBay sold Butterfield's, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Inc. sold its stake in Phillips, Christie's clos its East branch in fresh York, Sotheby's closed its Arcade branch, and Sloan's went bankrupt.

Encouragingly, admitting a detailed analysis of this season's print auctions indicates that graphics may be surviving the storm.

At the prints sale held at Sotheby's novel York in November, only 32 percent of the pieces failed to find buyer At the parallel Christie's fresh York sale, the buy-in rate was flat lower. Only 21 percent of the apportionments went unsold. According to Kelly Troester head of the print department at Christie's, the sale was "pretty straightforward, boring and consistent." In light of today's sluggish economy, she believes "boring and consistent" is a beneficial thing. "We are very happy," she said.

Print Market Indicators

To what might the print world owe this quite respectable performance? According to Troester "if there is a downturn, prints are (practically) the last to perceive the effect." She attributes this to the fact that "prints are more accessible to the public." In other words, since multiples are typically les expensive than originals, they are more attractive to penny-pinching buyer Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that the off-season sales held at Christie's, those sales which include the lowest-priced items, have been performing level better than the main sales. individual even had a buy-in rate as depressed as 16 percent.

Therefore, the task for a dealer reading these tea leaves is that collectors who used to purchase large oils may now be readjusting their sights and adding prints to their collections instead.

What other can be learned as regards the attitudes of the buyer at the print auctions? Mary Bartow, the head of the Sotheby's print department, said the bidders were "careful," and evidencing this is the fact that nine of the top 10 allotments in the Sotheby's sale sold within estimate. Troester observ that in like manner many of the pieces exchange within estimate because it is "so easy to predict the prices;" all parties involved simply review the past sales of comparable examples in order to determine fair values for the works upon offer.

Thus, not sole are purchasers focusing on more affordable items, on the contrary in Bartow's words, "they are studying them a little more."

Portrait of a Buyer

Who, then, is doing the buying at these auctions? According to Troester there are "always fresh young couples and collectors coming into the market for prints; they fe at the bottom." It would also appear to be that they sometimes feed in from the top. Bartow confided that it was a younger buyer who bought Edvard Munch's "The Kiss IV" for $207500 It turn rounded out this was only the next to the first piece he had ever bought from one side Sotheby's. The lesson? It might be wise to market to Generation X

Who is not shopping at the auctions? Dealers. According to Troester "dealers are having a harder time with their stock." She has heard a number of them "saying they had a jagged summer or early fall." Bartow tenders further evidence of this tend when she observed that "dealer problems" have caused a weakness in the market for medium-priced works.

Of course, for her, medium-priced means $5000 to $30000 Nevertheless, in light of the evident lack of competition, this might be the time for the well-heeled to consider a purchase at that level

Sellable Artists: Who's burning and Who's Not?

Did the auctions proffer any clues as to which artists were burning and which were not?

"Picasso all the way," said Troester" and Warhol." For the former, she observ that "Picasso is where a apportionment of collectors are starting." For Warhol, she related a humorous story about a dealer who is focusing his efforts upon pieces with large signatures. He finds that his clients want these "so they can be easily read through their friends."

above at Sotheby's, Bartow agreed that the market for Warhol prints is still healthy. In fact, report Art is generally is a safe bet. All of the 12 Harings upon offer at the Sotheby's sale fix buyers, and two even sold above their estimates.

All in all, "the cerulean chips" fared well. Every single of the top 10 dooms at the Christie's sale were through household-names: Picasso, Johns, Chagall, Toulouse-Lautrec.

What impressed sign of works fared poorly? of advanced age Masters. Bartow observed the interest in of that kind pieces is "really weak" because there are "no of recent origin collectors getting into that market." She said level the youngest new collector of advanced in years Master prints she knows is in his 60 Evidencing the lack of interest in of the like kind pieces is a spectacular place of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's pieces, entitled "Carceri d'Invenzione" (est $150000 to $200000) that went unsold at Sotheby's.