SOTHEBY’S DESIGN AUCTION ACHIEVES $4 MILLION
The Highest-Ever Total for an
Online Sale of 20th Century Design

Previously Scheduled as a Live Auction,
The Online Sale Surpassed Its High Estimate by 40%
With Bidders Competing from 31 Countries

LED BY:
A Sonambient Sculpture by Harry Bertoia,
Sold for $300,000
*6 Times Its High Estimate*
&
A "Moorish" Twisted Wire Chandelier
Executed by Tiffany Studios circa 1895,
Sold for $300,000
*20 Times Its High Estimate*

NEW YORK, 2 April 2020 – This week in New York, Sotheby’s March auction of Design concluded with an outstanding total of $4 million – marking the highest-ever result for an online sale of 20th Century Design.

Previously scheduled to be conducted as a live auction, this result demonstrates the continued strength of Sotheby’s online auction program across our business. Our dedicated online sales have achieved $36 million to-date in 2020 – more than double the same period in 2019.

Jodi Pollack, Co-Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s 20th Century Design Department, commented: “The remarkable success of our mid-season Design auction demonstrates the strong demand we continue to see from collectors worldwide for works across the full spectrum of the Design markets. Our record total also reinforces the confidence and shift we are seeing towards bidding and buying online. We were thrilled to meet the needs of both our buyers and sellers at this very challenging time by successfully executing an online sale strategy, and we are so very grateful to all of our clients for their strong support and making this sale a benchmark market event. This result is an important indicator of the Design market’s momentum and growth at a much needed time.”

SALE OVERVIEW
The Design auction totaled $4 million – more than $1 million over its high estimate of $2.9 million – with a strong sell-through rate of 82.2% by lot.
Nearly half of all lots offered sold for prices above their high estimates.
Six works sold for more than $100,000.
Hundreds of bidders competed from 31 countries, with the highest level of competition from the United States, United Kingdom, France and Hong Kong.
One-third of all bids were placed on mobile devices.
AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
A selection of works by Harry Bertoia were led by his Untitled (Sonambient) circa 1970 that fetched $300,000 – six times its high estimate of $50,000.
Best Performance Against Estimate: a "Moorish" Twisted Wire Chandelier created by Tiffany Studios circa 1895, on offer from the collection of pioneering video game executive Ryan Brant, sold for $300,000 – a remarkable 20 times its high estimate of $15,000.
A collection of windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for celebrated residential commissions in Illinois and Minnesota performed exceptionally well, with all six examples on offer selling for a combined $487,500 – nearly seven times their high estimate of $72,000.
Most Competition: 10 bidders competed for a Pair of "Direction" Armchairs, Model No. 352 by Jean Prouvé, driving it to sell for $175,000 – multiples of their $30,000 high estimate.
SOTHEBY’S ONLINE PLATFORM
Since launching in 2016, online sales have been a growing segment of Sotheby’s sales program. We successfully held 129 dedicated online sales in 2019, spanning all manner of fine art and luxury objects. Our dedicated online sales in 2020 have been especially robust, having achieved $36 million to-date and climbing daily.

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