This market is a duel between two expensive paintings listed for sale at Sotheby's "Contemporary Evening Auction" in New York.
Richard Diebenkorn - Ocean Park #126
Estimate: 18,000,000 - 25,000,000 USD
Lucio Fontana - Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio
Estimate: 20,000,000 - 30,000,000 USD
Thus, the Fontana has a slightly higher estimate, but as there is large variation in auction results, the winner is far from certain.
This market resolves to the painting which sells for a higher value at auction.
Resolution details:
Example from a past auction: This painting by Vigée Le Brun sold for 3,085,000 USD. This is the equivalent number I will use.
Edge cases:
If one fails to sell for any reason, it resolves to the other.
If there's a tie (or they both fail to sell), both resolve at 50%.
If any scenarios for resolution are unclear, please ask.
Richard Diebenkorn - Ocean Park #126
Painted in 1984, Ocean Park #126 stands out as one of the pinnacles of this now iconic series. Against a palette of warm golden and yellow tones recalling the bright California sunshine, Diebenkorn lays out a series of diaphanous bands that bisect the canvas along horizontal and diagonal axes. Rendered in a chromatic range from rich reds to jewel like blues these lines act as anchor points that allow the viewer to access the work, and center themselves within it. (Christie's)
Lucio Fontana - Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio
At the apex of Abstract Spatialism is a select body of work that radically expanded painting’s possibilities in the postwar age: Lucio Fontana’s celebrated Concetto Spaziale, La fine di Dio (Spatial Concepts, The End of God). The avant-garde series, of which the present vivid yellow work is a striking exemplar, consists of large, sumptuous, viscerally pierced “eggs” which Fontana painstakingly oil-painted in seductive, bold monochromes. The ovoid masterpieces communicate scientific and religious principles aesthetically, in a Neo-Modernist fashion. (Christie's)
For more art auctions, check out the dashboard.
1,000
3.00Even discounting the underwhelming Bacon sale, other star lots also failed to deliver. A Richard Diebenkorn abstraction from his “Ocean Park” series, initially pegged to sell for as much as $25 million, failed to find a buyer altogether. The consignor, according to Artnet News, was Lorenzo Fertitta, who bought it at Christie’s New York in 2018 for $23.9 million, at the time an auction record for the artist. On Monday, auctioneer Oliver Barker had to fish for bids even to bring it above its $14.8 million low estimate.
A 1964 Lucio Fontana “Concetto Spaziale” painting from the Rachofsky Collection threatened to topple the artist’s record altogether; with a $30 million high estimate, it didn’t even hammer at its $20 million low (though it met that sum with premium). The hammer price, $19.7 million, rose to just under $23 million—a respectable figure, since it still makes the painting one of Fontana’s most expensive works, but one lower than the house had hoped for.
Not great!
@traders AUCTION OVER. The Fontana didn't do so well—it sold for 22,969,800 USD, including buyer's premium, which is quite a bit down from the $29M it last sold for. bad investment! However, the Diebenkorn only attracted a few bids, and it looks like that bid must not have reached the minimum reserve, because it doesn't have a sale price. This resolves to the Fontana. R.I.P. Tough market out here.
Next, for some lower stakes action, check out some markets for an absolutely hideous handbag, and a mildly ugly diamond ring:
@Odoacre Nope! There was a massive hack. It’s a disaster lol. On phone or would share a link but there are articles about it
@Ziddletwix I don’t think the details are known yet to lay people like me but yeah it’s a crisis for them lol
@Ziddletwix yeah I know about the hack, I thought these were on Christies so I was surprised you were able to get the sale prices, but actually they're on Sothebys, my bad
@Odoacre I wanted to make a market about the christie's situation, but I'm supposed to be taking a break! Habits die hard
FUN FACT: Both these artworks sold at Christie's within the past decade!
Looks like the Fontana's current estimates aren't very promising compared to the previous sale (given the high cost of holding & selling these paintings, not a great investment here).