Guide to art auctions for under $10,000

Guide to art auctions for under $10,000

Episode 1: Purchase opportunities are growing

Far from intimidating auction records, the art market is currently developing affordable price ranges. In the first half of 2024, 91% of the artworks sold at auction worldwide fetched less than $10,000.

Among the hundreds of thousands of artworks sold each year, the volume of those selling for under $10,000 is growing the fastest, almost doubling in ten years. This segment is full of treasures, including unique works by recognized artists, from Old Masters to Contemporaries.

To give you insight into this dynamic market segment, its developments, its acquisition opportunities and its leading artists, we are launching a dedicated monthly series. In this first episode, we examine the rise of the art market for under $10,000,

Find out how the Covid crisis transformed this segment, what types of works are accessible for less than $10,000, and which auction houses to follow to find a wide variety of choices?

Contents:

The art market under $10,000 is booming

Auction houses to follow for artworks under $10,000

 

The art market under $10,000 is booming

2023 was a record year for the number of works sold around the world: 725,000, an increase of +13% in two years. However, this year 2024 looks even more promising, with already 377,000 works having changed hands during the first half of the year alone.

Among the H1 2024 auction results, the vast majority – 91% – involved works costing less than $10,000, a market share that appears to be growing: two years ago, the figure was 89%. This small 2% growth in two years actually represents an additional 30,000 artworks that found buyers in auction rooms around the world.

Indeed, while the offer in this price segment would appear to be expanding every year, what is most interesting is that the already substantial budget of $10,000 gives access to all types of creation, from classical works on canvas to NFTs, including sculpture and multimedia.

The leading medium in this price segment is painting with over 136,000 sold in the first half of the year. More than a third of the purchases under $10,000 concerned painted canvases, that is to say unique, original works, but also from all artistic periods, from the spectacular Descent from the Cross by the 16th century Spanish artist Antonio VAZQUEZ (c.1485-c.1563), to the childhood reveries of the young Philippine artist Ayka Go (born 1993).

 

Affordable paintings at under $10,000 are in fact much more numerous than prints (25% of sales in this price range), which one might expect to occupy a greater proportion of the ‘affordable’ price ranges. Indeed, paintings (36% of sales) and drawings (20% of sales) together represent over half of the under $10,00 market, and there are currently over 200,000 unique works (i.e. not prints) available in this price range every year.

Thanks to online sales, affordable works are appealing to a wider audience

The Covid crisis marked a turning point for the sale of artworks for under $10,000. In H1 2024, there were 110,000 additional sales compared to the same period in 2019, a significant increase of +46%. In the meantime, the art world was forced to adapt to the constraints of the online economy: the temporary cessation of physical auctions in 2020 due to lockdowns accelerated the switch to online sales by art auction houses.

Sales started to be organized either entirely Live, i.e. behind closed doors with an auctioneer broadcast on video, or Online, with no physical attendance or auctioneer. This decisive shift, which accustomed buyers to remote bidding, had the effect of increasing both supply and demand after the crisis on a global scale.

The multiplication of online sales and live broadcast physical sales has attracted new buyers by removing geographic constraints. The online sales also introduced a more comfortable temporality for bidders, giving them several days to think about and place their bids, versus the immediacy of a physical sale, an advantage that particularly appeals to first-time buyers who want to take their time before making a decision.

The digital fluidification of the market has been particularly advantageous for the affordable segment where the number of sales has exploded since the pre-pandemic period. Among the 343,000 works sold for under $10,000 in H1 2024, 61% fetched under $1,000, with an additional 30% fetching between $1,000 and $10,000.

Global auction sales of artworks by price range

 

Auction houses to follow for works under $10,000

Paris, New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels… The major art capitals are full of accessible works. However, Paris is where the offer is most abundant and diversified for this price segment.

Paris: the market’s under $10,000 core

France benefits from a dense territorial network, made up of 184 auction houses active on the Fine Art market (H1 2024), and depends little on multi-million dollar works, unlike the American and British markets.

Above all, France is a genuine source of art from all periods (including Old Masters , lesser-known Old Masters and Modern artists.) The country has of course been a magnet for a number of major and prolific Modern artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró, adding to an exceptional artistic heritage. In addition, the spirit of art collecting, which is deeply rooted in France, has contributed to the creation of rich and varied art collections over the decades.

Paris proposes the finest offering in the country, and it is above all the world’s leading marketplace for works costing less than $10,000. In the first six months of 2024 alone, more than 30,000 works were sold below this threshold in the French capital, three times more than in New York, and as many as in London, Berlin, Tokyo and Brussels combined!

Geographic breakdown of sales below $10,000 in H1 2024

 

Millon and Ader: key players in France

Among the most dynamic French auction houses, Millon is the leading auctioneer in this segment, with more than 4,200 lots each fetching under $10,000 in the first half of 2024. Ader stands out as the second French auction house in this segment, with more than 3,000 similar results over the same period. Rossini is third with 2,300 sales out of a total offering of 4,600 lots. Artcurial follows with nearly 1,700 lots sold.

In the month of September 2024 alone, Millon and Ader both further increased their offer, with Millon, notably, selling more than 700 lots at prices under $10,000.

Among the works sold in September for under $10,000 were drawings, and even original paintings, by artists like Yves Brayer, Louis Léopold Boilly, Rosa Bonheur and Jean Bertholle. In addition there were abstract works by Georges Mathieu, André Lanskoy and Maurice ESTEVE, but also drawings by great Italian Old Masters, such as Tiepolo and Le Guerchin.

 

International auction houses to follow

On a global scale, the Austrian auction operator, Dorotheum, ranks as the leading vendor of works under $10,000, with nearly 9,000 lots sold in the first half of 2024. Notable sales included prints by masters like Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as affordable works by Viennese Actionists such as Hermann Nitsch and Arnulf RAINER.

Other major players include the Australian company Lawsons, the Italian Borromeo Art Studio, as well as Bonhams, which has strengthened its footprint with recent acquisitions of auction operators in the United States and Europe. The British auction operator, Bonhams, has significantly expanded its activities in the affordable works segment to meet the growing demand in the mid-market and has the best turnover in the category of works priced under $10,000. With $12.8 million generated in the first half of 2024 from 4,400 works sold, Bonhams is now the world’s leading auction house in this price range.

 

The market for artworks under $10,000 has never been so dynamic. The spectacular growth in sales, boosted by the rise of online auctions, shows the extent to which art can now be part of the daily lives of many collectors, without involving colossal sums of money. This fluidification of the market offers an unprecedented opportunity to collect rare works, from different periods and geographic origins, while respecting a ‘reasonable’ budget.

A budget of $10,000 allows you to take a position in the vast majority of the world’s art auction supply which contains lots of interesting treasures. During the first half of 2024, the fact that 91% of all artworks changed hands for under $10,000 proves that the auction market is more open and affordable than it has ever been.

This first episode provides an initial idea of the artworks that can be acquired today with a budget of less than $10,000. In the following episodes we will focus on the artists most purchased in this price range, and, the upside value potential of works acquired for under $10,000.

 

affordable art – under $10,000 – tight budget