A Billion Dollar Week of Sales at Sotheby's Worldwide

NEW YORK, May 18, 2018/PRNewswire/ --

Sotheby's Flagship Auctions of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art Achieve $858.6 Million– Up 35% over May 2017 –

• 16 Lots Exceed $10 million | 7 Lots Exceed $20 million
• 83% of Lots Sold across 5 Auctions
• More than Half of All Sold Lots Exceed Their High Estimates
• Sotheby's Worldwide Sales of Impressionist & Modern & Contemporary Art Are up 20% Year-to-Date over 2017

Contemporary Art Sales Realize $473.3 million– Up 15% over May 2017 –

• 15 Auction Records Are Set During the Evening Auctions, Led by David Hockney ($28.5 Million) and Kerry James Marshall ($21.1 Million)
• Contemporary Art Day Sale Reaches Decade-High of $107 Million 
• 30 Auction Records Set | 23 Lots Exceed $1 million
• Works Donated by Artists to Benefit The Studio Museum In Harlem Total $20.2 Million
• All 42 Works Are Sold | 24 Auction Records Established
• Sotheby's Worldwide Auctions of Contemporary Art Are up 18% Year-to-Date over 2017

Impressionist & Modern Art May Sales Total $385.2 Million– Up 73% over May 2017 –

• Modigliani's Modern Masterpiece Achieves $157.2 Million
• * Highest Auction Price in Sotheby's History *
• A Quarter of All Works Sold in the Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale Are Acquired by Asian Private Collectors
• Sotheby's Worldwide Auctions of Impressionist Art Are up 23% Year-to-Date over 2017

Private Sales of More than 40 Works This Week

• Sales of 20^th & 21^st Century Art including Works by Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama and Cy Twombly, And Important Design by Jena Prouvé and Diego Giacometti

'White Glove' Auctions of Private Collections

• The Collection of Barbara and Morton Mandel
• 26 Artworks Are 100% Sold for $107.8 Million, With Full Proceeds Benefiting The Mandel Foundation
• Sculpture from The Collection of Howard and Saretta Barnet
• Masterpieces of African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian, American Indian, Classical and Near-Eastern Antiquities Are 100% Sold for $8.4 million
• Led by an Extraordinary Fang-Mvaï Ancestor Statue That Fetched $3.5 Million

 Discovered 300 Years Apart, Three Diamonds Dazzle at Sotheby's Geneva

• 'The Farnese Blue' Soars to $6.7 MillionAfter 300 Years in the Same Family Collection
• Two of the Largest, Purest White Diamonds Ever to Appear at Auction Sell for a Combined Total of $17.4 Million– Each Weighing over 50 Carats & Perfect by All Critical Criteria –
• Participants from 50 Countries | 73% of Sold Lots Exceed High Estimates

Important Watches in Geneva

• A Storied Rolex Daytona 'Paul Newman' Wristwatch with 'Toffee' Registers Brings $947,776 – More than Double Expectations
• A Superb Diamond-Set Skeletonised Tourbillon Wristwatch by Graff Doubles Its Estimate to Reach $553,119

2018 Lamborghini Huracán Gifted to His Holiness Pope Francis

• Sold for €809,375 at RM Sotheby's Biannual Monaco Auction
• All Proceeds Are Being Donated by Pope Francis To the Vatican's Preferred Charitable Organizations
• RM Sotheby's Monaco Sale Realizes $27.5 Million

Last night, Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) concluded a week of worldwide auctions held in New York, Geneva, London, Monaco and online, with 2,182 lots sold over 15 auctions for a grand total of over $1 billion*.

In a record week for records at Sotheby's, auction history was made across the globe, from sales of 20^th- and 21^st-century art to magnificent jewels, African and Oceanic Art, watches, cars, rare wines and books. The sales were led by Amedeo Modigliani's modern masterpiece Nu Couché, which became the most valuable artwork in Sotheby's history when it sold for $157.2 million.

Tad Smith, Sotheby's President & CEO, commented: "Sotheby's was exceptionally proud to serve such distinguished clients as The Mandel Foundation, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the owner of The Farnese Blue, the Estate of Howard and Saretta Barnet, the consignor of the Modigliani, and many more, in a week that reached $1 billion in sales. And in the next week alone, we will host more than fifteen live and online auctions including the second offering of wine from the Estate of Jerry Perenchio and we look forward to continuing to deliver outstanding results for our clients around the world."

Mike Goss, Sotheby's CFO, added: "As a reminder, in light of the differences in the timing of our Hong Kong sales, we encourage investors to look at our rolling six month results when making second quarter comparisons to last year."

UPCOMING AUCTIONS

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 10 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).

*Estimates do not include buyer's premium. Prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer's premium and are net of any fees paid to the purchaser where the purchaser provided an irrevocable bid.

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