In the lead-up to key London art sales this week, Christie’s and Sotheby’s have deepened their rivalry and sharpened their tactics.
The two auction houses have long enjoyed a near-duopoly in fine art auctions. Each has shown extraordinary resilience in recent years, bouncing back from a serious price-fixing scandal at the turn of the millennium, and boosting sales amid the global financial crisis.
In spite of the rise of Chinese competitors, at the top it remains a two-horse race with the winner often leading by a nose. In 2012, Christie’s took 54 per cent of the two groups’ combined sales, compared with 50 per cent the year before.
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