The professionalisation of the art trade in early nineteenth century London: Exploring the business model of Christie’s auction house

Abstract

By 1800, the city of London had developed into a major hub for the art trade and numerous auction houses vied for market share in this competitive environment. Combining data from the Getty Provenance Index® and a unique set of journals preserved at the Christie’s archives in London which contain presale evaluations for paintings during the 1820s, this paper explores the business strategy of the auction house. We gauge the relationship between the estimates and the hammer price or highest bid in the subsequent public auction, and the reserve price when available. We argue that Christie’s developed the expertise and engendered the trust among sellers to secure consignments of desirable works of art, which were estimated at realistic and attractive levels that gave the company a competitive advantage in the booming London art market.