Amidst whispers of a slowing art market, the lucrative results of Sotheby’s New York’s recent Design sale tell a different story. This week, the anticipated auction, which featured pieces by the likes of Jean Prouvé and Wendell Castle, raked in $4 million—40% above its total high estimate. This sum is the highest-ever total for an online sale of 20th-century design.
Sotheby’s took a gamble this year, hosting the sale as an online-only event for the first time. Many live auctions across all major houses were canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, while some chose to carry on using purely digital platforms. Sotheby’s in particular had trusted that their clients were comfortable buying online, as four popular spring sales were moved to an online-only format, including Design. Already in 2020, dedicated online sales at Sotheby’s have fetched more than $36 million for the auction house. This is more than double the January-to-March earnings from its online sales in 2019.
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The Design auction earned more than $1 million above its high estimate of $2.9 million, with 82.2% of lots sold. Nearly half of all lots on offer sold above their high estimates as bidders from 31 countries competed for a piece of the prize. “This result is an important indicator of the design market’s momentum and growth at a much needed time,” Jodi Pollack, co-worldwide head of 20th-century design, said in a press statement. Pollack also affirms that clients are more comfortable buying online than ever before, even beyond computers; one third of all bids at the Design sale were placed by mobile device.
“The remarkable success of our mid-season Design auction demonstrates the strong demand we continue to see from collectors worldwide for works across the full spectrum of the design markets,” says Pollack. “Our record total also reinforces the confidence and shift we are seeing toward bidding and buying online.” One heavy-hitter on the virtual block was Harry Bertoia, whose Untitled (Sonambient) sold for $300,000, six times its high estimate. Additionally, a Moorish chandelier by Tiffany Studios from the collection of Ryan Brant fetched $300,000—a shocking figure 20 times its high estimate of $15,000. A set of windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright achieved a total of $175,000, as did a pair of Prouvé armchairs—one of the star lots of the sale.
