Phillips

The Contemporary art market survived better than many had expected at the London auction series last week.

Phillips set a new high for Martinware with the sale of this 14in (36cm) high bird jar modelled as Benjamin Disraeli for a double-estimate $190,000 (£126,670).

Two single-owner collections of Martinware – each exceptional in their own way – will appear for sale on either side of the Atlantic this autumn.

London’s growing importance as a hub for Modern design – boosted with the imminent return of sales at Sotheby’s – was underlined this month with records at Phillips in Mayfair.

Phillips are to begin-streaming their sales live on eBay’s platform for upmarket auctions of fine art and antiques.

The latest series of Contemporary art auctions in London posted a bumper total despite the failure of some big-ticket lots.

The latest Modern and Contemporary art auctions in New York took the market to new heights with $2.73bn (£1.84bn) changing hands over two weeks of flagship sales.

The Lockheed Lounge by Australian designer Marc Newson beat its own record as the most expensive work to sell at auction by a living designer when it fetched £2.1m at Phillips in London.

Phillips have made a statement of intent by opening their new saleroom and exhibition space in the heart of Mayfair and on the doorstep of Sotheby’s and Bonhams.

There was no slowing down in the Contemporary art market as the latest sales in New York posted a record for any auction series.

Christie's former chief executive Edward Dolman is to become chairman and chief executive officer of Phillips this summer.

The Contemporary art market rose to a new level last week as both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw record sales in New York.

This year’s Frieze week auction totals in London were largely consistent with 2011, but the much-publicised sale of Eric Clapton’s prize abstract by Gerhard Richter (b.1932) proved crucial in bolstering the overall figures.

Highly lucrative totals, a record sale and a selection of unprecedented prices seen for individual artists – the Contemporary art market seemed to carry on regardless in London last week.

A string of record prices for leading names in the Contemporary art market saw the amount of money raised in the latest New York auction series heading back to boom-time levels.

THE price of $56.5m (£36.9m) seen for Andy Warhol's The Men in Her Life at Phillips de Pury's evening sale, meant that for the first time in a New York Contemporary art auction series the top lot did not come from Sotheby's or Christie's.

PHILLIPS de Pury will open a second auction and exhibition gallery in New York, at 450 Park Avenue.

THE balloon-like market for contemporary art lost much of its air last week as both the Frieze Art Fair and its related auctions suffered the full force of the global economic crisis.

The Moscow-based luxury retail giant Mercury Group have bought a majority stake in the London-based international auctioneers Phillips de Pury & Company. Phillips de Pury said that Mercury initially offered a possible partnership in July last year, but the deal developed into an effective takeover last week.

Phillips de Pury’s Hip Hop Crown Jewels auction scheduled for October 1 in New York has been postponed until March 5, 2009.