Sibling Rivalry Erupts Into $160 Million Art Auction Showdown

Sotheby’s and Christie’s take sides in warring spring offerings.

Featured on bloomberg.com

In the art world, auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s are like squabbling siblings—more alike than different, yet always trying to one-up each other.

Next week in New York, the two rivals are vying to sell separate collections of contemporary art from two actual siblings—at virtually the same time. Perhaps fittingly in the circumstances, the two sisters aren’t on speaking terms.

The competition involves the grown daughters of the late Jerry Spiegel, a onetime Long Island farmer turned real-estate mogul, and his wife, Emily. The couple had a lucrative avocation: finding young artists destined for greatness. They amassed early works from future superstars such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and Jeff Koons. 

The Spiegels, who died eight years ago, left their art to their two daughters, who each received half of its estimated value. For this month’s auctions, one chose Christie’s and the other, Sotheby’s—though not without intrigue within the houses themselves. The companies expect the works could sell for more than $160 million, the two largest art consignments of the bellwether spring auction season.

The dueling auctions on May 17 and May 18 illustrate the challenges of valuing estates involving art, as well as the hard edges and personal animus underpinning what might seem a genteel business.

“It’s ruthlessly competitive,” said Doug Woodham, former president of Christie’s in the Americas and author of a new book, Art Collecting Today. “The auction houses fight aggressively to win that business.”

Lucrative estates are crucial for the auction houses. Specialists spend decades cultivating relationships with wealthy families and their attorneys in the hope of being chosen when the time comes.

Estates let companies—in one fell swoop—get their hands on a variety of works at a range of prices. Auction companies collect a commission that declines as the price of the item increases and typically ranges from 25 percent to 12 percent.

“The more modestly priced pieces piggyback on the monumental pieces,” said Warren Weitman, a former Sotheby’s chairman who set up its trusts and estates group in 1979. “It’s a win-win.”

Estate sales of bold-faced names create buzz. In November, New York-based Sotheby’s sold the art collection of the late rock star David Bowie. Some 56,000 fans filed through its galleries to view the works, which reaped $41.1 million. In 2011 and 2012, London-based Christie’s sold actress Elizabeth Taylor’s art, clothes and jewels for $183.5 million.

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