Sotheby’s Set a New Record for an Online Design Auction With a Surprisingly Strong $4 Million Sale

Sotheby’s design auction brought
in a surprising total of $4 million this week, exceeding its high
estimate by more than 25 percent—and that’s after it was converted
from a live sale to an online sale. The total is the highest figure
ever recorded for a 20th-century design sale held
online.

For Sotheby’s, the results are
the latest in what’s been a string of relatively successful online
sales being held during the postponement of live events—a sign, the
auction house hopes, that the luxury market hasn’t taken the hit
many feared it would. 

“Our record total… reinforces
the confidence and shift we are seeing towards bidding and buying
online,” said Jodi Pollack, co-worldwide head of Sotheby’s
20th-century design department, in a statement. “This result is an
important indicator of the Design market’s momentum and growth at a
much needed time.”

Nearly half of the lots went for
prices above their high estimates, and 82 percent of them sold. The
auction house said that bidders came from 31 countries, and that
one-third of bids came via mobile devices.

A “Moorish” Twisted Wire
Chandelier created by Tiffany Studios around 1895 was one of the
big winners of the day, exceeding its high estimate 20 times over
to sell for $300,000. The chandelier belonged to the collection of
the late Ryan Brant, founder of the video game publisher Take-Two
Interactive. 

Other highlights from the sale
included Untitled
(Sonambient), a
sculpture from American-Italian designer Harry Bertoia, which
fetched $300,000—six times over its high estimate—and a series of
windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which brought in $487,500
across multiple lots.

Altogether, Sotheby’s online
sales have earned more than $36 million in 2020, a number buoyed by
several solid sales in March. The company’s recent online auction
of Banksy prints, for example, brought in $1.4
million, exceeding its
high estimate, while its sale of Modern and contemporary Middle
Eastern art solidly came in on the high side of expectations,
earning $2.6 million total.

Nonetheless, the
company furloughed
approximately 200 people, or roughly 12 percent of its staff, this
week. And news of further schedule changes keeps coming
in. The company
announced earlier
this week that it would
postpone its major May sales in New York until June and launch
additional online events in their place. 

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Auction With a Surprisingly Strong $4 Million Sale appeared
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