NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: A man holds his hand up while bidding on a work of art inside the auction house Christie's during the Post-War and contemporary Art sale November 15, 2006 in New York City.
In Christie's year-end report, CEO Guillaume Cerutti announced that the house is set to rake in a collective $6.2 billion in sales for 2023, including profits that encompass both the sales for art-related pieces and luxury-focused items.
This margin is markedly down from last year's total, which is in huge part thanks to the "historic and exceptional" Paul Allen auction that happened during 2022's tail end, as reported by Artnews. In that particular sale alone, an incredible $1.5 billion was made and makes up around 18% of the difference to this year's collective profits.
Thus, the auction house took a unique approach when it came to presenting the 2023 end-of-year figures, as it was compared to 2022's figures in which the Allen sale was included and one where it was not.
With the outlier taken into consideration, Christie's complete figures are shown to be 25% lower, and when the Allen sale was taken out, the auction house is still losing about 7% from last year. That said, the current year's figures are still better than 2019's by about 7%. Bearing in mind the pandemic's effects and the low-interest rates that came after, it's an overall improvement.
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Total Sales is not the Most Important Metric
Cerutti told the art publication that the downtrend of total sales isn't the most crucial metric highlighted. For him, it was the year's overall sell-through rate, which sat at around 84%, which was "slightly lower than last year but still high." The CEO added that most of the pieces that were sold were over the low estimate.
However, it is also worth mentioning that a deciding portion of that specific metric is from guaranteed sales or transactions for pieces that are pre-arranged with a contract.
Despite this, Cerutti still holds sell-through rates as very important, especially for the possible consignors who typically have concerns regarding this metric. He also added that most lots that make up the total don't come with a guarantee.
Knowing both this and the difference above the low estimate is quite "relevant" in Cerutti's eyes, especially during this time were financial "waters" are quite "treacherous" since clients are looking to the auction houses for accurate and easily understandable estimates for possible sales.
Other Figures from Christie's 2023
When it comes to private sales, there was an improvement of around 6% from last year's 14% of total sales to 2023's 20%. One private sale even raked in "well above $100 million" according to Cerutti, which would make it the house's top single lot sale that was privately made.
For a more specific breakdown, Christie's said that its collective total when it comes to auction sales is just around $5.02 billion. On the other hand, the private sales gross was at $1.2 billion. Luxury items, like handbags, watches, wine, or jewelry, brought in $1 billion out of the year's total sales, a record-breaking metric for that specific category within Christie's.
Cerutti reassured internal company stakeholders, especially employees, that the "red" the auction house witnessed with its sales doesn't mean that it would need to undergo restructuring through layoffs, nor were there any plans to do so. For its CEO, Christie's had exited its pandemic state with gusto as a "streamlined and well-organized business."
