The Top 5 Art Auction Houses: A Guide to the World's Most Prestigious Auctions — Artistcloseup.com - Your favorite place to discover new artists (2024)

FAQs

What are the top 5 auction houses in the world? ›

There are numerous art auction houses across the globe, but the top 5 are Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams, and Heritage Auctions. In this essay, we will examine each of these auction houses in detail and highlight some of their upcoming auctions in 2023.

Founded in 1744, Sotheby's holds a prestigious position as one of the world's largest and oldest auction houses. It's an institution in the auction industry, renowned for selling not only art but also jewelry, real estate, and collectibles.

Specialties: Furniture, Books, Jewelry, and other Antiques.

According to Forbes writer Anna Rohleder, both auction houses are known for excelling in different areas. Sotheby's excels in American furniture and photography. Christie's excels in European furniture, books, and manuscripts.

Sotheby's. Founded in London in 1744, Sotheby's is the world's largest and longest-standing auction house. With 90 locations across 40 countries, it leads the pack in international reach.

We recommend eBay as the best online auction website because it's free for buyers, fees are reasonable for sellers, and its platform is incredibly user-friendly.

Antiques, fine artwork, and classic jewelry see the best returns at an auction most of the time.

Create physical art products to sell online. Selling art prints is a great way to generate significant profit, particularly through a print on demand supplier. Print on demand platforms allow you to sell prints and physical products, such as tote bags and phone cases, that are customized with your digital art.

Consider finding an appraiser to determine the value of your artwork. Appraisers are trained specialists who work for a fee. They evaluate your piece and give you a written statement of its value.

Lastly, for consignments with a total low estimate in excess of $20 million and up to and including $50 million, sellers receive 40% of Sotheby's Buyer's Premium in addition to the hammer price. Sotheby's has a success fee of 2% on all lots where the hammer price exceeds the high estimate.

As of May 20, 2024, Sotheby's has a uniform seller's commission rate of 10% on the first $500,000 of the hammer price per lot, across all categories. We do not charge a seller's commission on the portion of the hammer price above $500,000 per lot.

What percentage does Christie's take? ›

At Christies for instance, its 26% up to 1 million, 21% from 1 million to 6 million and 15% above 6 million. The average artist consignment fees are a different matter altogether and typically involve retail galleries as opposed to auction houses. Fees range from 50% - 70%.

Sotheby's's competitors and similar companies include 1stdibs, ArtFire, LiveAuctioneers and Worthy. Sotheby's is a provider of a marketplace for art and luxury products. 1stdibs is a company that provides an online marketplace for luxury design products.

How do auction fees work? The seller's commission at major auction houses, such as Christie's or Sotheby's, is 15%. On top of that, you'll be asked to pay shipping, LDL (loss, damage and liability insurance), as well as a hefty marketing and cataloguing fee. These are negotiable fees when it comes to consignment.

Heritage Auctions is the largest collectibles auctioneer and third largest auction house in the world, as well as the largest auction house founded in the U.S. We are also the undisputed Internet leader in our field, with more than 1.83 million online bidder-members registered on HA.com from all 195 countries.

Sotheby's was the auction house recording the highest sales value worldwide in 2023. That year, the company's total sales from public and private channels amounted to roughly 7.9 billion U.S. dollars. Christie's had the second-highest sales value that year, at around 6.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Auction houses have been around since the 17th century, with art auctions becoming popular in London and in Paris in the mid-1700's especially with the establishment of the two major international auction houses: Christie's and Sotheby's.

The top four auction houses – Phillips, Christie's, Sotheby's and Antiquorum – recorded sales worth $347 million. In 2021, these numbers jumped to an unprecedented high of around $600 million.