(via Economist) The most talked about work of the week was Warhol's “200 One Dollar Bills”, an historically important, hand-drawn silkscreen painting from 1962. Until the day before the sale, the identity of the consignor, described in the catalogue as having a “distinguished private collection”, had been a well-kept secret. Then word slipped out that it had belonged to Pauline Karpidas, a London-based collector. Back in 1986 Mr and Mrs Karpidas had paid $385,000 for the picture, the highest price ever paid for a Warhol at auction during the artist's lifetime. Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's chief auctioneer, opened the bidding at $6m whereupon Alex Rotter, a Sotheby's specialist on the phone with a client, immediately doubled the bid. The price escalated in million-dollar increments so quickly that it was hard to tell where the bids were coming from. Philippe Ségalot, an art advisor, Jose Mugrabi, a dealer who owns some 800 Warhols, Abdallah Chatila, a Lebanese collector, and two other Sotheby's staff members, Loic Gouzer and Bruno Vinciguerra, together nodded and waved the lot all the way up to its $39m hammer price. In the end, Mr Vinciguerra won the picture for his anonymous buyer for $43.7m with fees. It was the second-highest price ever paid for a Warhol at auction, exceeded only by “Green Car Crash”, which sold in May 2007 to Philippe Niarchos for $71.7m. The price proves the adage that real masterpieces retain their value in almost any economic climate. As Mr Ségalot affirmed, “The date, subject matter, composition and condition are all fantastic. The painting probably sold for the same price as it would have two years ago.” A typical auction house drama with a happy ending, really.
Useful links:
www.sothebys.com
www.christies.com
No comments:
Post a Comment