“Pandemics, sadly, are nothing new,” as Bonhams points out. The auction house in New York is holding an online sale of two pages containing Sir Isaac Newton’s handwritten notes on Flemish physician Jan Baptist van Helmont’s treatise Tumulus Pestis (The Tomb of the Plague). Van Helmont had practised in Antwerp during the plague of 1605, during which time he had searched for a cure. “Combining powdered toad with the excretions and serum made into lozenges and worn about the affected area, drove away the contagion and drew out the poison,” Newton noted carefully in around 1667. But perhaps the best advice, much as now, was simply that “places infected with the Plague are to be avoided”. Newton’s notes were expected to fetch up to $120,000 last Wednesday when the online auction ended.
Auction houses, galleries and art fairs have all heeded that latter advice. But while the “big-name auction houses may be making great strides online… there is a lot to make up for since the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll on live events”, says Melanie Gerlis in the Financial Times. May is usually an important month in the art-market calendar. But this May, sales totals worldwide fell 97% at the big three action houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, to just $93m from $2.9bn in May of last year, according to analysts Pi-eX. “This is the lowest public auction total ever recorded for the month by the database (which tracks from 2007),” says Gerlis.
It wasn’t all bad news, however. Car specialists RM Sotheby’s showed online auctions can work by setting a record for the highest price fetched for a car at an online auction. On 29 May, it brought the virtual hammer down on a very real 2003 Ferrari Enzo at $2.6m, including fees. Another Ferrari, a 1985 288 GTO, sold for $2.3m at the same sale.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
There was also good news for art fairs. “Frieze New York, the city’s first test of whether a virtual art gathering forced by the pandemic could survive online, wound down… [in May] with surprisingly strong results, suggesting that the schmooze-centric art market may never be the same” again, says Robin Pogrebin in The New York Times. Sales from the fair were “solid”. It may even be that an online virtual element becomes the norm in the art market.
On 29 June, Sotheby’s will be holding its high-profile New York evening sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art – from London. The auctioneer, Oliver Barker, will stand in an empty room, facing a bank of screens on which colleagues around the world will bid on behalf of clients. Up for grabs is a $60m Francis Bacon triptych. “This will be the very first time that I have taken to the rostrum in London in order to conduct a New York sale,” says Barker. “[It] will usher in a very exciting new era of marquee auctions... in which the best of the established live auction formats is married with the very latest auction technology.”
-
Pension warning: one in five don’t know how much is going into their pensionHow to check your pension contributions and why it matters
-
50,000 power of attorney applications rejected – how to avoid common mistakesA freedom of information request shows that thousands of lasting power of attorney (LPA) applications are rejected due to errors. We explain how to avoid mistakes and reveal tips to make the process as straightforward as possible
-
Halifax: House price slump continues as prices slide for the sixth consecutive monthUK house prices fell again in September as buyers returned, but the slowdown was not as fast as anticipated, latest Halifax data shows. Where are house prices falling the most?
-
Rents hit a record high - but is the opportunity for buy-to-let investors still strong?UK rent prices have hit a record high with the average hitting over £1,200 a month says Rightmove. Are there still opportunities in buy-to-let?
-
Pension savers turn to gold investmentsInvestors are racing to buy gold to protect their pensions from a stock market correction and high inflation, experts say
-
Where to find the best returns from student accommodationStudent accommodation can be a lucrative investment if you know where to look.
-
Best investing appsLooking for an easy-to-use app to help you start investing, keep track of your portfolio or make trades on the go? We round up the best investing apps
-
The world’s best bargain stocksSearching for bargain stocks with Alec Cutler of the Orbis Global Balanced Fund, who tells Andrew Van Sickle which sectors are being overlooked.
-
Revealed: the cheapest cities to own a home in BritainNew research reveals the cheapest cities to own a home, taking account of mortgage payments, utility bills and council tax
-
UK recession: How to protect your portfolioAs the UK recession is confirmed, we look at ways to protect your wealth.
