Christie’s final auction – fine art April 10 and 11 in Melbourne
Published March 31st, 2006
The last outing of Christie’s Australia, its $5 million fine art sale on April 10 and 11 in Melbourne, will be at once a celebration and a wake. So there was always going to be a sad note to Thursday’s “party” – the opening night of the Sydney viewings for the sale, which continues over the weekend.
The party – as the auctioneer itself has tended to dub such events – marked the firm’s final social event at the Edgecliff premises it leased last year, and for many of its staff perhaps the last time they would be mixing with their clientele. There’s usually something of a gala atmosphere – art and free bubbly being a heady mixture – and this was no exception.
Rumour has it that Christie’s Australia – Melbourne-based, London-run and Paris-owned – will have quite a job extricating itself from the lease on the Edgecliff premises, at least if saving money is any priority.
The auctioneer had actually started the year well. It raised a total $4.89 million, excluding GST, at the March 6 sale of lawyer Bill Burge’s collection of modern paintings and sculpture, which was 98 per cent sold by lot. Its auction of furniture and decorative art later in March raised just over $1 million. And all before its old rival, Sotheby’s, had got round to lifting its gavel.
But overall it has been trailing. Figures from Australian Art Sales Digest show that for 2005, its sales raised a total of $17.37 million out of an estimated $93.1 million for the art auction market as a whole. That compared with $33.01 million raised by Sotheby’s, and $22.16 million by the most recent arrival on the art auction scene, Deutscher-Menzies.
In 2004, Deutscher-Menzies dominated with sales of $30.18 million, with Sotheby’s and Christie’s in second and third place respectively. Christie’s last outpaced its rivals in 2000 when it raised a total of $31.34 million – boosted by the landmark sale of the Harold Mertz collection. Big one-owner sales have been perhaps the firm’s major strength – not just Mertz but Alan Bond’s Dallhold, Coles Myer, BHP Billiton and others. Rivals say Christie’s boss Roger McIlroy – now out of a job – was a tenacious rival to secure major collections.
