Antiquities on the New York Market: Update

© David Gill

I have been plotting the sale of antiquities on the New York market for some years. Today's sale at Sotheby's New York shows that the two June and December auctions this year netted over $20 million, of which $6.8 million was represented by Egyptian material (34%).

Since 1998 some $77 million worth of Egyptian antiquities have been sold by Sotheby's New York, representing 20% of the value of the sales. Just over 61% of the lots in this period appear to have surfaced since 1973, a downward trend suggesting that Sotheby's is more cautious of objects that do not have a documented collecting history that can be traced back.