As March 2020 came to a close, the initial effect of Covid-19 could already be seen in the evolving schedules of auction houses for the month of March.  

Historical analysis from Pi-eX Monthly MACRO report for March shows that 1/3 of the auctions scheduled to take place that month at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips (15 out of 45) had to be cancelled because of governments imposing lock-downs in New York, Paris and London.

- Christie's cancelled 10 auctions scheduled for the month of March 2020, mostly in New York and Paris:

- Sotheby's cancelled 9 auctions scheduled for March but then converted 5 of them to online sales that were run in March.  The remaining ones seem to be getting rescheduled for the following months also as online sales.

- Phillips cancelled 1 auction scheduled for the end of March 2020 in London, out of the 4 sales it had scheduled for that month.

More information about the impact of covid 19 on the auction business at the top 3 auction houses is available in Pi-eX March MACRO reports.