New York, December 15 20𝔍21: Sotheby’s is proud to report a record year in the company’s history, driven by s൲trength and depth of demand and an influx of new collectors, and powered by rapid expansion of offerings and platforms.
With more than 20 sales still to go, Sotheby’s standout year to date results include consoliဣdated sales at $7.3 billion with auctions running total at $6 billion and private sales achieving𒊎 $1.3 billion, as auctions rebound and clients respond to a seamless digital and physical experience.
New sale formats and categories attracted a wider audience of participants🐟 (a record number of bidders joined in Sotheby’s sales, with 44% them new to Sotheby’s) and a rise in qua𒉰lity works coming to the market is meeting strong demand from new and established collectors.
Notable achievements underlying these historic results include a number of new benchmarks established across regions and categoriꦡes, including a record year in Asia, a record year for global sales of Modern and Contemporary art, and a record year for Luxury with Watches, Wine & Spirits, Design and Books & Manuscripts each achieving all-time highs for annual auction totals. Additionally, the arrival of new categories such as streetwear and NFTs have further expanded Sotheby’s🦂 audience to a new demographic of collectors.
Art Market Reaches New Highs
Growth in wealth corresponds♍ with growth in demand for emerging artists, as collectors discover new talent in addition to acquiring blue chip works which are selling at new highs:
Volume of transactions from $5-50 million increased by two thirds: from 91 in 2020 to 🌜158 in 2021
Works sold for over $10 million in twelve ꦉdifferent categories including, Asian Art, Contemporary, Modern, Latin American Art, Old Masters, Watches, Jewels, Books & Manuscripts, and NFTs, with m꧅ore works sold for over $15 million than in any other year
125 plus records made for leading artists in Sot꧟heby’s marquee sales, with hundreds more set across all categories and platforms throughout the year
A record year for Modern and Conte𒅌mporary art, with sales o♋f $4.3 billion across auction and private sale channels, including:
New sale formats seamlessly integrating Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary masterpieces, building on the success of the integrated sale categories in London🍌’s 2020 flagship sales
New auction, “The Now”, featuring masters of today and ♊those of tomorrow, resulting in a white glove sale, and drawing broad audiences online and in person, outstripping estimates with 𓆏deep, vigorous competition for the vast majority of works
Auction sales o🥀f Old Masters at Sotheby’s together realized the highest yearly total in a decade
Seamlessly blending best-in-class physical and digital experiences
Rapid expansion of web and mobilꦍe platforms and a shift to a hybrid livestream auction format, combined with on the ground experiences enhanced with state-of-the-art technology, have dramatically expanded access to an unprecedented number of participants over the last 12 months - since January 2021, 39% of buyers and 44% of bidders are new to Sotheby’s
Relocating the market’s center of gravity to meet clients where they are led to landmark sales in Las Vegas (auction of 11 Pic🌄assos from the MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection in October), Beaune (hosting the renowned Hospices de Beaune wine auction 🤪in November) and the sale of a portion of the Karl Lagerfeld collection in Monaco in December, uniting a global team of Sotheby’s specialists across markets to deliver premium client experiences and diversifying ways to transact with Sotheby’s
This year also saw Sotheby’s expand its global footprint, with the opening of new premises🌠 in Cologne (September), Los Angeles (October); as well as an additional private sales pop-up gallery in Monaco.
Dramatic expansion of audiences
Having welcomed thousands of clients back into its galleries and salerooms in May, Sotheby’s simultaneously expanded its digital capabilities and reach: with over 16.6 million livestream views this year, 4.2 million social followers across all platforms, 13.2 million unique visitors to laitexier.com, 6.5 million unique visitors to online catalogs, and over 200,000 bids placed online this year representing 92% of total bids; while online sales realized a record $8🔯00 million
Meteoric rise of NFTs and the launch of Sotheby’s Metaverse, a first-of-its-kind dedicated Web3 enabled NFT marketplace, saw a dramatic expansion into a new audience with 78% of NFT bidders being new to Sotheby’s and more than half of them under 40, wide adoption of this new aesthetic and nearly $100 million of NFT sales to date with multiple benchmarks achieved, including a record for a single CryptoPunk ($11.8 million) and a record for a single Bored Ape ($3.4 million). Sotheby’s created a virtual gallery in💖 Decentraland to exhibit NFTs and established dedicated Twit🍌ter and Discord channels to engage with the NFT and crypto communities directly
An influx of younger, tech-savvy collector🍬s also saw a landmark crossover into purchases of physical works such as Alberto Giacometti’s Le Nez bought by Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron, for $78.4 million last month in New York
Asian collectors remain a strong force across all locations and categories, accounting for one third of all bids by value in Sotheby’s worldwide sales, and a stunning 46% bid or bought on lots over $5 million, resulting in yet another record year for Asia (click for dedicated 🔥release):
In New York in November, Asian collectors accounted for approx💯imately 20%💝 of the bids in New York, acquiring or underbidding a number of the high value works including, Mark Rothko, Yoshitomo Nara, Ellsworth Kelly, Alexander Calder, Gerhard Richter, Banksy, Monet’s Le Bassin aux nymphéas, Egon Schiele, Roy Lichtenstein and Pierre-Auguste Renoir
During the Frieze Week Contemporary Art 🅺Sale in London, Banksy’s Love is in the Bin sold to an Asian collector for $25.4 million, setting a record for the artist
Consolidation and strength in Luxury categories
Sotheby’s𓃲 luxury auctions reached new heights in 2021, with global totals reaching over $1 billion for the first time, a n𓆉ew record for any auction house - driven by a record number of bidders.
The total for Sotheby’s luxury division is up 78% on the full year 🅘total for 202🎃0
63% of lots sold for prices in excess of their high estimates, a 💙40% increase on 2020
The average value of items sold is up 66% on 2020
The number of luxury items sold for more than $1 million more than tripleཧd on 2020
More people participating in Sotheby's luxury sales, than ever beforꦡe, with 39% more bidders in 2021 than 2020
New bidders and younger bid🐠ders continue to enter the market an🍸d drive results. 47% of bidders were new to Sotheby's in 2021, as the number of bidders under 40 also increased by 187%
Watches, Wine & Spirits, Design, Books, and the Luxury Accessories and Collectibles categories all achieved all-time r𓂃ecord annual a꧂uction totals
An expansion of offerings included Sotheby’s first wine and spirit auctions in France, first live Spirits sale in Asia, first sneakers🍌 sale in Asia, first watches sales in Paris, and announcement of the permanent expansion into the streetwear market in December
Collectors from the continent acquired more than 40% of the value of all global Watches sales and 52% of the value of all jewelry sales, including the sale of the second largest pe🥂ar-shaped diamond to appear on the market, which sold for $12.3 million - the highest price for any jewelry or gemstone purchased with cryptocurrency
Boutique single owner sales brought rarefied treasures to the market with enviable provenance that captivated collectors and brought a record number of new bidders: the collections of Michelle Smith, Ricky Jay, Sammlung Oppenheimer, , Stuart Weitzman, Dorothy Tapper Goldma🌊n and Pierre Chen
The launch of The Emporium, a cross category store at So✃theby’s New York offering luxury items for immediate sale: an extension of the company’s growing Buy Now online marketplace
STANDOUT MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
Collections:
The ♔most valuable single owner auction ever staged: Works from total $676 mi🌃llion
The collection of : 100% sold in Paris, doublꦡing pre-sale es൩timate
The legendary collection of♌ achieved more than $150 million
The collection of , daughter of the🌺 famous artist duo: makes $94.3 million, the high꧂est total for any auction in France in 2021
The fir🔯st part of the was 100% sold in Monaco, making €12 million, with 1,400 bidders
Records:
Highest price ever achieved for an Old Masteཧr at Sotheby’s: $92.2 million
Auction record for a coin: sells for $18.9 millio🔯n
Most valuable sneakers ever sold: Kanye West 2♉008 ‘💙Grammy worn’ make $1.8 million in a private sale
A record for a work of Latin American Art: ‘Diego y😼 yo’ sells for $34.9 million
: painting triples high estimate to brജing record $25.4 million - three years after the painting famously shredded in Sotheby’s London auction room
Most valuable historical document𝕴 ever sold: a rare printing of sells for $43.2 million
sold t𒁃ogether for $24.4 million, setting a new auction record forౠ a single lot sold online at Sotheby’s
The🎃 highest price ever achieved for a pair of sneakers at auction♊ – Michael Jordan sold for $1.5 million
The Hamilton Aphrodite sells fಞor $24.6 million, setting a new record for any ancient ma🦩rble at auction
A soared to $9.6 million - a new auct😼ion record for any wristwatch ever sold at Sotheby’s, and a record for any watch sold at auction this year
Firsts:
Sotheby’s stages its first US marquee evening sale outside New York: W🅷hite glove sale of offered at the Bellagio in Las Vegas sell for $109 million
, in collaboration with PAK 🙈makes $16.8 million with 3000 buyers across the oꦬpen edition and one-of-one auctions
The first digital art👍efact offered at Sotheby’s: The🌼 sells as an NFT for $5.3 million
Sotಌheby’s became the first auction house to open its own platform dedicated to NFTs, with the launch of Sotheby’s in Octoဣber
The first selling🍸 exhibition d꧙edicated to black jewellery designers:
Sotheby’s, took place in September
In♚ September, Sotheby’s became the first auction house to loan 🍃jewellery for
Sotheby’s , launches with the “King of Mandopop”, Jay Chou, 🌳as curator.
First time cryptoc🏅urrency is accepted on 🐲a physical work of art, and first time a Sotheby’s auctioneer (ETH) cryptocurrency
First auction house to create AR technology lens with Snapchat for tဣhe Christo Wrapping
Currently und𓂃erway in Hong Kong, is Sotheby’s first ever tea auction, featuring some of the finest examples of premium Puerh from the past century.
This year 💯Sotheby’s raised approximately $120 million for non-profit organizations by hosting auctions on behalf of charities and institutions, and through direct donations to art education programs and other charitable initiatives.
Press Contacts:
Karina Sokolovsky
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Karina.Sokolovky@laitexier.com
Mitzi Mina
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Mitzi.Mina@laitexier.com
Derek Parsons
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Derek.Parsons@laitexier.com
Rosamund Chester
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Rosamund.Chester@laitexier.com
About Sotheby’s
Established in 1744, Sotheby’s is the world’s premier destination for art and luxury. Sotheby’s promotes access, connoisseurship and preservation of fine art and rare objects through auctions and buy-now channels including private sales, e-commerce and retail. Our trusted global marketplace is supported by an industry-leading technology platform and a network of specialists spanning 40 countries and 50 categories, which include Contemporary Art, Modern 🍎and Impressionist Art, Old Masters, Chinese Works of Art, Jewelry, Watches, Wine and Spirits, and Interiors, among many others.
*Estimates do not include buyer's premium or overhead premium. Prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer's premium and overhead premium and are net of any fees paid to the purchaser where the purchaser provided an irrevocable bid.
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