Russian art bubble bursts
Post by: BMKRIGER
When reading, keep in mind that this is an small indicator of the world economy.
The Russian art market has exploded in recent years, booming as rich industrialists and financiers ploughed their growing fortunes into painting and sculpture.
Goncharova’s Still Life was one of the priciest works this week
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But this bubble, like many others, now seems to have burst. Major auction houses have failed to sell many of their items at sales in London this week.
Hundreds of Russian art dealers and collectors converge on four London auction houses twice a year, in November and June, to acquire paintings, jewellery, porcelain, Faberge items and icons – but this week they had less to show for it.
The years of record prices are over. Auction houses have struggled to reach even their lowest pre-sale estimates.
In all, Sotheby’s netted £25m ($38m) – lower than its minimum pre-sale estimate of £30m. Its main rival, Christie’s, took nearly £14m – that is £8m less than its lowest forecast.
Continued at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7754681.stm
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I believe this is a perfect example proving that people all over the world are reducing their spending on materialistic products, and people are focusing on spending their money on necessary items. This brings us back to basic economics as we see people are determining what is a need vs what is a want before spending their money.
pierrecarras - December 3, 2008 at 11:20 pm
This is just a perfect example of how even the ultra rich are taking a hit in this economy and can’t spend as frivolously as before this economic crisis. Even though not being able to buy million dollar pieces of art doesn’t seem like too big of a problem to many of us, this just shows that everybody has been forced to change their spending habits in order to maintain their lifestyle.
scottcraft - December 4, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This is what people get for purchasing these priceless items and now they are stuck with them. It makes me laugh.
tomflynn0529 - December 4, 2008 at 4:45 pm