Auction News - Christie's to Cut Price Estimates at Least 10%, CEO Dolman Says

Posted on December 15, 2008 at 1:47 PM.

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NEW YORK - A photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern and a photograph by Helmut Newton of four women naked and then dressed sold for record prices on Wednesday, Christie's auction house said. The Newton photo "Sie Kommen, (Naked and Dressed), Paris, 1981" sold for $662,500, smashing the previous 2007 record for the photographer of $380,725, while the Stern image "The Last Sitting," one of the last pictures of Monroe before her death, sold for $146,500, shattering the $63,000 mark set in 1994.

Monroe photo, Newton photo set records in New York (Washington Post)

Christie's International plans to cut estimates on the artworks it auctions by at least 10 percent because of the economic slowdown, Chief Executive Edward Dolman said in an interview. French billionaire Francois Pinault's auction house is among those whose sale totals have missed forecasts as nervous collectors balk at high estimates. "We would be taking our prices down, I would have thought, at least 10 percent," Dolman said during a visit to Hong Kong. "It could be more for certain works."

Christie's to Cut Price Estimates at Least 10%, CEO Dolman Says (Bloomberg)