Paris auction sales fall 20% - 25/01/2010

Sales among Parisian auction houses have fallen by an average of 20 per cent over the past 12 months, it has been revealed.

That is according to an article in the Antiques Trade Gazette, which says that although general sales have decreased over the year, confidence is returning to the city's auction scene.

While sales at the long-established Drouot auctioneers remained consistent, the gap between the big three (Sotheby's, Christie's and Artcurial) and the rest of the city's smaller sellers widened.

Of the big three, Christie's masked a 25 per cent sales decrease with the exceptional 342 million euros (£308 million) sale of the Bergé/St-Laurent Collection.

The auction house's French boss François Curiel told the news provider: "We're back at 2005 levels, before the upsurge and speculative bubble."

However, Christie's' yearly intake of 112.8 million euros (£101.6) excluding the Bergé/St-Laurent sale, was still higher than second-placed Sotheby's, which took in a total of 98 million euros (£88 million).