Phillips Moves in the Right Direction

It took 66 million years but a Triceratops nicknamed Cera finally made its New York debut—selling at Phillips’ prestigious evening sale last week.

The natural history specimen found a buyer and went for almost $4.4m, with fees, and above its high estimate. However, it did not upstage more conventional lots: a Francis Bacon diptych and Joan Mitchell abstract.

Bacon’s Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer (1967) sold for $16m, with fees, pursued by three bidders, while Mitchell’s untitled 1957 painting fetched $14.3m with fees.

Phillips held its evening sale on November 19 and day sales on November 21 during New York’s marquee week. Together they scored a B- on the HENI Auction Index, an improvement on its C- in May.

The Phillips sales were smaller than usual with sales totaling $89m, 43% lower than recent comparable marquee weeks. The total number of lots was 277, 8% below the norm.

The percentage of lots hammering above their low estimates improved slightly, however. Also, the percentages of lots bought-in and withdrawn stabilized, which helped it score improve slightly.

The split between weak versus strong guarantees improved, with the former decreasing 1 percentage point and the later rising 1 percentage point.

Bacon’s 1967 diptych, which features his female muse and male partner, returned to the market backed by a strongish guarantee. It sold well above its low estimate, although for $3m less than in 2015, when it fetched $19m, including fees, at Christie’s in London.

The number of new artists’ auction records set at Phillips, typically the auction house’s strong point, fell to a level that is 40% below recent comparable sales. Among them was a new record for Mary Abbott, when Forest of Dak (1965) sold for $167,700, with fees, a 7% rise.

Calida Rawles’s Little Swimmer (2016) was another record-breaking work, fetching $193,500. It beat the artist’s previous auction record by $140,200, a 250% rise.

There was also a small decrease in the average hammer to mid-estimate ratio to a level that's 17% below norm.

Despite scoring slightly below average, the B- on the HENI Auction Index, which is based on 10+ metrics, confirms the auction house's gradual recovery and adds to evidence of a rebound in the art market. The demand for dinosaurs defied the slump.

Methodology: for how the HENI Auction Index classifies sales, see here