INTRODUCTION:

Sotheby's and Christie’s are the grandfathers of the international art world. They auction ancient and modern art, furniture, books, photographs, and now NFTs too. They have revolutionized auctions through the years and are keeping on reaching higher grounds through creative ideas. Sotheby’s was founded by Samuel Baker inn 1744 and Christie’s was founded by James Christie’s in 1766.

DIFFERENCES:

• What sets them apart is that they both have considerable incentives for customers to attend auctions. For example, Christie's provides buyer rebates and discounts such as first-class tickets to their events. Sotheby's has no choice but to offer similar advantages because Christie's is its biggest rival.

• Christie's is privately owned by François Pinault, a French billionaire, while Sotheby's was a publicly listed firm. Because of Christie's private existence, it is only permitted to announce its final sales to the press. On the other hand, Sotheby's was held responsible for disclosing details to its shareholders. Shareholders may thus publicly express their dissatisfaction with capital returns. In June 2019, however, French-Israeli telecom entrepreneur Patrick Drahi made a $3.7 billion bid to buy Sotheby's.

• Sotheby's is known for its expertise in American furniture and photography and Christie's is known for its collection of European furniture, books, and manuscripts. Both of them make a point of boasting about their incredible jewellery collections.

• On goods sold up to £225,000 in Christie’s London, consumers will be charged a 25 percent commission fee. If the object is worth more than £3,000,001, the percentage drops to 13.5 percent. This suggests that if you paid £3 million for a historical masterpiece, the payments could amount about £3.5 million. The commission rates of Sotheby’s are comparable to Christie's in London, with a 25 percent charge for goods under £300,000 and a 13.9 percent fee for items above £3 million.

• Amedeo Modigliani's Nu Couché, 1917, led the $318.3 million Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 14 May, with a record $157.2 million. The price is the highest ever paid at a Sotheby's auction for a piece of art. A 500-year-old portrait of Christ claimed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci is the world's most costly piece of art sold at auction. Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) was sold at Christie's in New York for a reported $450 million in 2017. 

• Sotheby’s has 80 sites around the world and a revenue of around $4 billion per year and Christies has locations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, giving it a global reach and an annual revenue of almost 5.8 billion dollars.

NFT AUCTIONS:

Christies and Sotheby’s have caught on to the trend of auctioning NFTs. They both have broken records and become very successful through these auctions. They have auctioned the works of Pak, Beeple, and other famous NFT artists. To read more about the NFT auctions, click here. If you want to read more about art auctions, click here. 

Comment below which auction house you prefer and which of our paintings from our collection would be ideal for an auction at Sotheby’s or Christie’s.