Industry data

TOTAL auction sales in France rose by 8.6 per cent in 2011 to €2.38bn. Art, antiques and other collectors' sales accounted for just over half that figure at €1.25bn, a record total that surpassed the boom years of 2006 and 2007, as well as 2009 when the Yves St Laurent sale at Christie's in Paris gave a huge boost in what was otherwise a lacklustre year.

AFTER 2010 saw the London market grow by a third it would have been a bold commentator to predict a further substantial rise in 2011. Nonetheless, coins and medals auctions in the capital saw totals rise by almost a quarter on the previous year.

So what is the most important revelation in this year’s TEFAF report?

SOTHEBY’S have released more details of their 2011 results, showing a 7% rise in revenue to $831.8m against global sales figures of $4.9bn. Profits were $171.4m.

THE balance of trade in the UK’s fine art and antiques industry swung heavily towards imports in 2011.

REPORTS have emerged that the Qatari Royal family has paid a record amount for any work of art ever sold.

PRIVATE treaty sales remain at the heart of Christie’s growth strategy, as the company’s latest statement underlines.

FIGURES just released show substantial growth in London’s coins market for 2011.

Dublin fine art auctioneers James Adam believe uncertainty regarding the euro has helped rather than hindered the Irish art market.

SOTHEBY’S have posted $4.9bn in worldwide sales for 2011, marginally up on 2010. The United States remains the company's primary market, accounting for just over $1.9bn of sales, with the UK second at $1.5bn. Continental Europe yielded $527m, while Asia - largely Hong Kong-based sales - totalled $959m.

After massive falls in the previous two years, the Antique Collectors’ Club’s Annual Furniture Index (AFI) dropped by a modest two per cent in 2011.

THE latest UK government report on the export of works of art revealed that a modest £3.7m worth of treasures were saved for the nation in 2011 after being blocked from leaving the country last year.

Late December is when the Paris rooms traditionally produce their ‘bilan’ or annual sales figures. For 2011, as in 2010, there remain three front runners who are way ahead of the others.

Confirming the time-honoured ability of auctioneers to attract vendors in a recession, the UK’s top tier of regional salerooms enjoyed a largely positive 2011.

Modern living is continuing its migration away from formal dining, according to a new survey of 2000 UK households.

ED Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, has appointed London art dealer Lowell Libson as a member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

THE parlous state of the English antique furniture market is confirmed this week with a sharp fall in the Antique Collectors' Club's Annual Furniture Index.

INCREASING revenues at Sotheby’s have given a further indication of the recovering art market. The company’s latest set of results shows a major turnaround for the first nine months of 2010, going from a loss of around $80m for the equivalent period in 2009 to a profit of $64.7m.

THE latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) survey points to prices picking up slightly for mid-range goods at auction in the UK provinces.