Collecting Michael Jackson

NEW YORK—Michael Jackson’s untimely death at 50 yesterday, apparently from cardiac arrest, caught the world by surprise. Not least the auction world.

In a rarefied league with items related to Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, Jackson memorabilia was already highly collectible. Now it will become even more so, according to Darren Julien, chief executive of the Beverly Hills, Calif.–based Julien’s Auctions.

A color photograph of Jackson’s high school class from 1973

sold for $180, below its pre-sale estimate of $300 to $500,

at Christie's in 2006.

Julien is well versed in Jacksonabilia. His company nearly put up 1,400 Jackson items for auction earlier this year, before the singer changed his mind and sued to cancel the sale. Several other Jackson-related items will be part of Julien’s Summer Sale today and tomorrow in Las Vegas, including a concert T-shirt from his Michael Jackson Victory Tour and a signed belt.

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American art weak at Sotheby’s and Christie’s New York sales despite museums’ clear-out

A new willingness to deaccession brought some success, but overall picture is of caution in the teeth of the recession

new york. Prices for 18th- to mid-20th-century American art plunged in May as Sotheby’s and Christie’s struggled to sell just 60% of their New York auctions, making $32.1m, down from $159.6m a year ago. “There were fewer bidders than we’ve seen in a decade,” said Dara Mitchell, the head of Sotheby’s American painting department. “People were cautious and really waiting to see where this market is going.”
“Most of the big players were not around,” said New York American painting dealer Howard Godel. “There wasn’t enough enticing material above $1m to get those buyers salivating.” Even a plentiful array of fresh-to-the-market museum offerings wasn’t enough to bolster weak results.
Christie’s 20 May sale totalled $16.8m for 141 lots, under the $20.6m low pre-sale estimate. Just 62% found buyers, and only three lots surpassed the million-dollar mark. The top lot was Milton Avery’s 1944 Sketching by the Sea which fetched $2.2m, well above the $800,000 high estimate. The painting depicts two figures drawing by a rocky coast line and came from an estate where it had resided since 1946.

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Buyers for Warhol and Calder

LONDON — A 1963 painting from Warhol’s famous “Death and Disaster” series and an early standing mobile by Calder — works by artists who have stood the test of time — were among the top sellers in a solid contemporary art auction at Sotheby’s here on Thursday night.

Bidding was cautious, as dealers and collectors thought carefully before shopping. Still the sale showed that when the price is right, there is still cash to be spent on classic, conservative art. The evening totaled $41.9 million, just below its low $45 million high estimate. Of the 40 works on offer only three failed to sell.

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