Christie's reported H1 2026 public auction sales of $3.5bn, up 71% on H1 2025's $2.1bn, within a $4.5bn revenue total (The Art Newspaper, 15 Jul 2026).
The half-year market resolves on Christie's official half-year results announcement (christies.com press release), comparing the stated global sales total with the $2.1bn reported for H1 2025; if no figure is published by 31 July 2026, the market resolves 'Down on 2025'. Published lot results on sothebys.com and christies.com are the source of truth for individual prices.
After a slump, big one-owner collections often restart the market. They bring top works, often with a price guaranteed in advance, and draw back buyers who ignored two years of weaker sales. These collections almost always do well. We looked at the last five big seasons to see whether sales across the whole season rose with them.