The very first auction that Christie’s conducted, back in London in 1766, was a single-owner collection sale of objects only identified as “the property of a Noble Personage (Deceas’d).” Presumably, this person’s noble rank was seen as testimony enough for the quality and taste of the items he had acquired over his lifetime. (If it’s good ‘nough for the guv’nor, it’s good ‘nough for me.) The auction was what now would be called a “house sale,” and in case you are wondering, the sale took place over the course of five days. Almost 500 lots were offered, ranging from household furniture to jewels and firearms, as well as “a large Quantity of Madeira and high flavour’d Claret.”
Much has changed in the world since 1766, but to a certain degree, quite a lot has stayed the same. Auction houses regularly—perhaps even increasingly—offer objects of all types that are identified as coming from some notable individual’s or family’s collection, sometimes naming the seller, sometimes not, but just the fact that said person owned often raises the estimated price and likelihood of being sold.
A single-owner sale “totally elevates prices. It gives them a real boost,” Lisa Dennison, chairman of Sotheby’s Americas, told Observer, noting that a quarter of all Sotheby’s auctions in 2024 in all categories were single-owner sales. “These kinds of sales create promotional opportunities, so heirs and curators can be brought in to speak on the collection,” as well as what motivated the owner to collect these objects in the first place and how they represent a cohesive vision. “New collectors aspire to do as these older collectors have done, so the story of what a collector has done captures their imagination.”
No one has been tracking the number of single-owner auctions, but many auctioneers contacted suggested that the number of these “dedicated” sales has been on the rise in part because of how much more profitable they are than many of their regular sales. The auction houses Bonhams and Christie’s both have established departments focusing on single-owner sales. Anna Hicks, who oversees single-owner collections at Bonhams, told Observer that “there has been an increase in the number of single-owner sales in recent years, most notably because of the compelling narrative that a cohesive collection presents, which effectively engages and resonates with audiences and buyers.”
Jay Frederick Krehbiel, executive chairman of the Chicago-based Freeman’s | Hindman, agreed that “the number of single-owner sales has increased in the last few years. Technology has made it easier to tell these stories, and the data tells us that when material is brought to market in a thoughtful single-owner format, and when we have the right to use the name of the consignor publicly, buyers respond and push up prices. As such, if the material warrants single-owner treatment, we almost always recommend it.”
Krehbiel put this concept to the test in 2023 when he arranged for a two-part sale of the decorative arts collection of his own parents, Fred and Kay Krehbiel, which resulted in 97 percent of all lots being sold. He noted that “my brother and I don’t have all of my parents’ particular tastes,” leading them to put the English furniture, porcelain, silver, works of art and other finery in a single-owner sale. This type of sale is apt to be the last time all these objects will be together. Collectors can, and often do, donate objects to museums, but institutions tend to pick and choose among items, almost never taking everything, leaving the collectors themselves or their heirs to dispose of objects as best they can. A single-owner sale creates another opportunity for clearing out unwanted pieces and is a way of honoring a collector.
According to the 2024 UBS Art Market Report, one survey of high net-worth individuals found that of those who had “inherited works but no longer held them in their collections,” some of the main motivations for selling were practical: 55 percent said they sold or donated works as they did not have enough space to keep them, while another common reason was that there were estate taxes to settle (47 percent). We are in what economists have called the Great Wealth Transfer of assets from people of the aging and dying Baby Boom generation to their children and grandchildren, and the question of what to do with all this stuff and how to arrange sales in order to maximize value has become a prevalent concern.
Some of the most prominent sales this year have been single-owner auctions, including Christie’s May 12 sale of thirty-eight works owned by Leonard and Louise Riggio, including paintings by Balthus, Arshile Gorky, Rene Magritte, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso, which earned $271,943,100, and Sotheby’s May 21 sale of fifty Old Masters artworks from the collection of Jordan and Thomas Saunders III that earned $64.7 million.
“We have had great success when items are owned by well-known people,” Elizabeth Siegel, vice president and head of private and iconic collections at Christie’s, told Observer. “A well-known individual definitely drives interest. If the same objects belonged to you and me, they wouldn’t produce the same level of prices.”
The sale of a significant collection does more than just give a title to a particular auction. There is now a story to be told, imbuing the objects with a secondary value. It’s not just the piece itself or the artist who made the thing; it is all that, plus the collector who had his or her own aesthetic vision, assembling all these objects together. Anna Hicks claimed that the company holds single-owner sales “as often as we can,” noting that “the strength of the narrative—whether centered on the collector or the collection—can justify and enhance the appeal of a dedicated sale.” A compelling narrative, she said, often results in higher prices at auction.
Nigel Freeman, head of fine art and in charge of African-American art sales at Swann Galleries in New York City, told Observer that the auction this past February of eighty-two lots from the collection of Patricia Scipio-Brim (1947-2023) created the opportunity to tell the story about her, “a Black woman collector, a lawyer, who has been a client of Swann’s since 2007. This sale could be seen as passing the baton from one generation to the next. People appreciated the story of this woman who was such a strong supporter of modern and contemporary African-American artists, and knowing that about her raised interest among other collectors who came to the sale and increased the level of bidding and the prices.”
Many of the artists in this sale are well known and have extensive auction price histories—Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Kara Walker, Beauford Delaney, Faith Ringgold, Richard Mayhew and Edward Bannister among them—but others had never had their works sold on the secondary market before, such as Terrie Boddie (b. 1965) and Elizabeth Colomba (b. 1976). Colomba’s painting Circe had a presale estimate of $2,000-3,000 and fetched $25,000 (with buyer’s premium). “Being part of this collection certainly elevated their standing” among buyers, Freeman said.
Single-owner auctions also offer prospective bidders some confidence about the objects up for sale. These lots have been evaluated and sold previously, indicating that others have done a degree of due diligence to ensure that they are properly attributed, not fakes or forgeries, and that their provenance—history of ownership—is adequately tracked. Because these items have been in a collection for some period of time, perhaps decades, they will be fresh to the market, which may appeal to buyers who are less interested in artworks that pop up at auction every few years.
Single-owner auctions may not be for every consignor. There may be too much of one type of object, which leads to auctioneers choosing to put pieces into different sales. “Most collectors don’t have enough works to fill an entire sale,” said Sandra Germain, owner of Shannon’s auction house in Milford, Connecticut, and others “don’t want to strip everything off their walls all at once” just to have enough items to fill a sale. “Some people just want to downsize.”
Yet others are reluctant to reveal their identities with a single-owner sale, not wanting to call attention to themselves or their wealth, especially if the auction proves to be very successful. It is not uncommon for auction catalogues in general sales to list a group of lots as being “from an important collection.” (Dennison said that “we have about nineteen different ways of saying this, from ‘Property of a Lady,’ ‘Property of an East Coast Collector,’ ‘Property of a West Coast Collector,’” and so on.) This designation doesn’t tell prospective bidders much of anything other than the fact that matters of provenance and attribution are likely settled. Last October, Christie’s held a sale of sixty-two American paintings only identified as from “An Important Private Collection,” which resulted in sales of $2,524,284.
Yet others are reluctant to reveal their identities with a single-owner sale, not wanting to call attention to themselves or their wealth, especially if the auction proves to be very successful. It is not uncommon for auction catalogues in general sales to list a group of lots as being “from an important collection.” (Dennison said that “we have about nineteen different ways of saying this, from ‘Property of a Lady,’ ‘Property of an East Coast Collector,’ ‘Property of a West Coast Collector,’” and so on.) This designation doesn’t tell prospective bidders much of anything other than the fact that matters of provenance and attribution are likely settled. Last October, Christie’s held a sale of sixty-two American paintings only identified as from “An Important Private Collection,” which resulted in sales of $2,524,284.
Auction houses are loath to publicly identify those anonymous consignors because, Germain said, “it will alert other auctioneers and dealers who will contact that person to find out what else they have.”
Some consignors simply aren’t interested in playing up their family names and ask that a group of objects that they are bringing to auction not be identified with themselves or with their families, but Dennison said that “I try to convince them that they do want this. Legacy is important and improves the financial outcome. They tell me, ‘My family name doesn’t mean anything to people,’ and I tell them that we can change that. We can create market momentum.”
On the other hand, auction house officials may decline the opportunity to have a named sale when the collector’s identity might be detrimental—for instance, if that person is known for being politically right-wing or left-wing or was indicted for or convicted of some crime. (Christie’s, for example, canceled the second edition of the World of Heidi Horten jewelry sale after backlash surrounding the fact that her husband, Helmut Horten, was a member of the Nazi party known to have forcefully purchased companies from Jewish business owners in the 1930s.)
Some collectors are renowned for what they have acquired, drawing prospective bidders to auctions of their objects. In May, a group of twelve artworks—including pieces by Elizabeth Peyton, On Kawara, Richard Prince and Thomas Schutte—from the collection of Manhattan art gallery owner Barbara Gladstone, who died last year at the age of 89, sold for $18.8 million, exceeding the presale estimate. Thomas Mittler was a world-renowned collector of scrimshaw, and the four-part sale of his collection in 2016 and 2017 at Eldred’s auction house in Cape Cod, brought out buyers and record prices, most notably for five carved whale teeth that sold for more than $100,000 apiece (one for $456,000). “In the scrimshaw community, Thomas Mittler was at the top,” Joshua Eldred, president and chief executive officer of the auction house, told Observer.
Celebrity names also inspire buyers to whip out their checkbooks. Often, these notables have died, such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (her odds and ends generated sales of $34,457,470, well above the original estimate of $4.6 million, over four days at Sotheby’s in 1996) and Elizabeth Taylor (her collection of jewelry sold at Christie’s in 2011 for $115,932,000). Elton John is still alive but wanted to pare down his estate with a sale of art, his Bentley, a pair of prescription sunglasses and other ephemera that fetched $7,960,900 last year at Christie’s. Fame is a powerful thing.
Sometimes, the desire to own something previously owned by some VIP leads to irrationally exuberant spending, such as the $40,960 one buyer spent to buy musician Tom Petty’s personal desk, which had been estimated to sell for $300-500 when it went on the block at Bonhams in 2022. Perhaps the fact that Petty’s initials and those of his wife were engraved on the desk explains it? “Admirers of public figures often place significant value on items associated with the individual, driven by a desire to own a tangible connection to someone they admire,” Hicks said. “As a result, such items frequently command a premium—well beyond what similar pieces might achieve without the celebrity association.”
Irrationality sometimes afflicts the most rational among us. “Even I bought two pieces of costume jewelry from the Jackie Onassis sale,” New York art lawyer Ralph Lerner told Observer. “It was for my daughters. They might have cost Jackie Onassis $20, but my daughters at least could say that they had something once owned by Jackie O.”
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