«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

Phillips followed two stellar evening sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s earlier this week at which buyers spent a total of $787 million on postwar and contemporary art. The top lot at Phillips, “Mao” (1973) by Warhol, sold for $13.5 million. It was one of 14 lots whose sellers had been guaranteed an undisclosed minimum price financed by the auction house, third parties or a combination thereof.Coupled with their day sales, the three auction houses sold more than $1 billion of postwar and contemporary this week. Estimated at $12 million to $18 million, it drew a sole bidder and was sold to that “gentleman in the room,” as he was described by auctioneer Simon de Pury. Another guaranteed lot, Basquiat’s 1982 canvas “Humidity,” was estimated at $12 million to $18 million. It drew a sole telephone bid to bring $10.2 million.

-Bloomberg
 Nov 16 2012