Art Market Up, Antiques Down

At Sotheby's and Christie's, sales of Impressionist and modern art are booming. At Sotheby's, Soutine's "The Man in the Red Scarf," expected to sell for less than $10 million, changed hands for $17.2 million.

Sotheby's sale of contemporary art set a record-breaking pace, too.

Reportedly, hedge-fund managers with wheelbarrows of money have been among the big spenders on art recently. Outside the art world, it's hard for them to find household decorations selling for impress-the-neighbors prices in excess of $10 million.

Antiques are another story, reports The New York Times:

“‘Incredibly beautiful antique pieces are going for almost nothing,’ said Robert Couturier, an interior designer and architect in New York. ‘It’s very sad.’ Bargains are particularly plentiful, he said, in 18th-century pieces.

“The antiques market is depressed not just in the United States but in other countries as well, according to Antique Collecting magazine. The managing editor, John Andrews, said prices at British antique shops have fallen about 30 percent since 2002, based on his annual survey of hundreds of dealers, which he has conducted since 1968. It is the worst decline he has seen in 40 years, he said.‘American and French dealers have not fared much better,’ he said. ‘There’s a marked drop in turnover.’”

Victorian pieces and all but museum-quality 18th-century pieces seem to go begging because today's affluents want to come home to comfy, well-upholstered furniture. (Who wants Victorian love seats in their home theater?)

Bottom line: Beneficiaries of estates containing good 19th and 20th-century art works should be feeling pretty happy. Beneficiaries of grandmothers who preferred Sheraton and Chippendale may have to lower their expectations.