HONG KONG, Oct. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Sotheby's (NYSE:BID) Autumn 2018 Hong Kong auction series concluded this week with a grand total of $466.1 million, against a pre-sale low estimate of $401 million, a 15% increase compared to the same sales in October 2017. The series of 20 auctions was led by a monumental modern masterpiece by Zao Wou-Ki, which sold for a record $65 million while other highlights included selling exhibitions of Western Art and the Important Watches auction which nearly doubled the equivalent sale last year.
"Our recent Hong Kong sales rose 15% on exceptional results for Modern and Contemporary Art, including a very rare 100% sold Contemporary Art Day sale," said Tad Smith, Sotheby's CEO, adding, "Both the number of buyers and aggregate spending, including from Mainland China, were up sharply in that category with particular strength from Taiwan and Hong Kong that could bode well for the upcoming major art sales in the West."
"At the same time, the overall number of buyers and aggregate spending by Asians was down from the year earlier period due to macroeconomic uncertainties, with Mainland Chinese buyers in particular citing slowing economic growth, weak Asian equity markets, and trade friction as factors on their minds. The result was weakness in a few traditional categories including Chinese works of art and jewelry made of jade."
In addition, the week featured two selling exhibitions of Western Art. A Brush with Nature was the most extensive selling exhibition ever staged in Asia dedicated entirely to European Old Master paintings and drawings and resulted in sales to Asian collectors entirely new to the field. Panorama: A New Perspective presented works by the likes of Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, resulting in over 20 sales to Asian collectors.
Mike Goss, Sotheby's CFO added: "When considering third quarter earnings, we would like to remind investors that we reported a one-time $.14 per-share benefit in last year's third quarter which should be taken into account when making year-on-year comparisons."
About Sotheby's
Sotheby's has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby's became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby's presents auctions in 11 different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby's BidNow program allows visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids from anywhere in the world. Sotheby's offers collectors the resources of Sotheby's Financial Services, the world's only full-service art financing company, as well as the collection, artist, estate & foundation advisory services of its subsidiary, Art Agency, Partners. Sotheby's presents private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby's Global Fine Art Division, and three retail businesses: Sotheby's Wine, Sotheby's Diamonds, and Viyet, the online marketplace for interior design. Sotheby's has a global network of 80 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).
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Hong Kong | Winnie Tang | +852 2822 8146 | winnie.tang@sothebys.com
New York | Dan Abernethy | dan.abernethy@sothebys.com
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SOURCE Sotheby's
