While we tend to gravitate to the big dollar results, there are many things that make a good auction: the order of the sale to create and carry the room forward and upwards; the energy of the auctioneer; what is happening in the economy; government announcements; broader confidence in the market; who is in the room and, of course, the provenance and prestige of the works going under the hammer.
Following the success of last month’s autumn auction season – 612 lots went under the hammer collectively amassing a total of $15.8 million in sales over two weeks – and with Leonard Joel’s auction last night (16 September) and Menzies 2-day sale next week (23-24 September), we thought it a good time to ask the experts what they thought it was that drove a successful auction?
