Collectors Refreshed by Pop at Sotheby's

Sotheby's put the fizz back into its evening sale by serving up old style coca-cola in glass bottles just before its evening contemporary sale, in homage to its cover lot, a 1962 painting of a coca-cola bottle. For the second night running Warhol captivated a who's who art world audience. Warhol's iconic Coca-Cola (4) (Large Coca-Cola) painting had Tobias Meyer hanging over his rostrum fielding an exciting battle between at least eight bidders.
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Big Money Matisse

Christie's pulled off a marathon sale last night at Rockefeller center, selling a total of $231.4 million, a result in the middle of its projection. A healthy sale-67 lots sold, of 84-suggests tht collectors are rebounding and ready to compete for good works.  While the sale was jam-packed with hard won estate property it also suffered from "filler" and some artists performed poorly, like Renoir and Bonnard. Despite the phonebook size catalogue and the 85-lot sale (which seemed endless), Christopher Burge kept the room energized from start to finish.
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Purple Craze for Warhol

Last night Sotheby's demonstrated the enduring ability for the auction houses to sell high-powered art, and sell it well. Sotheby's had a tightly edited 53-lot sale; only three lots failed to sell. Several lots were hotly contested.

Warhol had another big evening, particularly in the case of Self Portrait (1986), a nine-foot-tall painting of Warhol wearing his now-famous fright wig was the star lot. Tom Ford owned the impressive painting, which is from a series of five. At least five bidders chased it until the bidding slowed at around $25 million. The contest narrowed to three bidders until the work was hammered at $29 million ($32.6 million with premium) to a Sotheby's phone bidder. The pre sale estimate was $10–15 million.
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Auction Thriller

Christie's did it again last night, this time as the famed Michael Crichton collection spearheaded its evening sale of Post war and contemporary art. The quintessential American sale was exciting, with brisk bidding both in the room and on the phone.

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