Why are Irrevocable Bids so popular these days? What value do they bring to Art Collectors? to Auction Houses? to Third Party Guarantors?
To answer these questions, Pi-eX Ltd studied all repeating Impressionist and Contemporary Evening Sales in London and New York from 2007 to 2017 at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips.
Pi-eX’s analysis covered 250 evening auction sales, 140 in London and 110 in New York, 88 Impressionist sales and 162 Contemporary sales, 98 sales at Christie’s, 98 at Sotheby’s and 54 at Phillips.
For all lots in these sales, Pi-eX compared the performance of lots without guarantees versus lots with simple Auction House guarantees versus lots with Irrevocable Bids.
The results of Pi-eX analysis may surprise some and comfort others.
They also raise important questions about the future of auctions and the fine art market in general.
