Fast Company reports on Christie's sale of author Michael Crichton's art collection, which netted $93.3 million and set a new record for a Jasper Johns piece with the $28.6 million paid for the "Flag 1960-1966" painting. Overall the Contemporary Art Sale netted $231.9 million--almost a quarter billion dollars.
The gallery where the auction was held, on the second floor of Chrisite's Rockefeller Center headquarters, was jammed with high rollers. A clutch of Upper East Side champagne blondes hung on men with Gordon Gekko-like slicked back hair in the equivalent of the orchestra seats. In the back, a pair of artfully nipped and tucked women, dripping with diamond bracelets and Louis Vuitton leather goods, climbed over chairs to try and snag a seat.
Attendees included Marc Jacobs, Salman Rushdie, Michael Ovitz, and Peter Brant. Around 75% of the buyers were American. Eli Broad, the L.A.-based financier put it thus: "No one wants paper money--they all want art."
I found the last quote interesting. It is consistent with what we've been hearing from others, and also ties in to our last post. With the present level of uncertainty and volatility in the currency markets many of the affluent have increasingly been moving portions of their wealth into hard assets, dollar-denominated or otherwise. Real estate is obviously likely to continue to play a large role in these assets shifts and diversification moves.
