Industry data

Sotheby’s latest results showed the firm has increased profits despite a significant fall in auction sales. Their share price jumped by over 15% after the figures were released earlier today.

Christie’s has experienced a sharp fall in overall sales. In figures released earlier today the company reported sales of £2.1bn for the first half of 2016, which compared to £2.9bn for the same period in 2015.

TEFAF have said they still will maintain an annual art market report despite losing the services of Dr Clare McAndrew who is joining up with Art Basel.

A new survey shows that 25 to 34-year-olds form the group most likely in the UK to go to fairs or auctions – but the least likely to invest in antique furniture.

Economist and author of the annual TEFAF Art Market Report Clare McAndrew has left TEFAF to join with Art Basel, it has been announced.

Following the release of Sotheby’s disappointing 2016 first-quarter earnings, the financial press was awash with speculation of a new investor.

The global market for art and antiques may have dropped by seven per cent in sales by value last year, but this is “not a signal that the bubble has burst”, the art market’s leading economist told TEFAF 2016 delegates this morning.

Global art sales fell during 2015 with the most significant a decline coming in the Chinese market.

The shake-up at Sotheby’s continued last week as more key senior employees – including Henry Wyndham – depart the company.

Prices for standard English antique furniture fell for the eighth successive year, according to latest figures from the Antique Collectors’ Club’s (ACC) Annual Furniture Index (AFI).

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw sales fall in 2015, a sign that the art market may be slowing.

Leading auctioneers in Ireland and Scotland enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular, year of sales in 2015.

Despite some welcome exceptions, 2015 proved a unspectacular year for Britain and Ireland’s regional fine art auctioneers with one in three salerooms experiencing a fall in sales.

Leeds University launch two resources for research and study into the British art and antiques market this week.

After lengthy and complex negotiations, the paper archive of the Staffordshire pottery firm of Minton’s has been saved for the nation.

COMMENT: The TEFAF Report shows that the art market has fully recovered since the 2008 financial crash, but still faces a number of challenges, such as late or non-payment.

Post-War and Contemporary art accounts for almost half of total spend at auction

The Antique Collectors’ Club’s Annual Furniture Index (AFI) registered its seventh successive fall in 2014. However, only two categories depreciated substantially.

A new report on the British art market shows the United States and China pulling away from the UK – the world’s third biggest player – as global business expands.