Spare at Christie's

[lashtal]

I see that Christie's has recently sold a Spare ('Satyr & Sylph') at auction, realising GBP 8,000 or so:

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/austin-osman-spare-satyr-sylph-5584621-details.aspx?from=salesummary&pos=1&intObjectID=5584621&sid=&page=10

[imbas]

Savage increase on a low estimate.  Bidding war?

[darkflame]

Incredible price. Seems the days of cheaper Spare's are coming to an end. The word is out!

[michaelclarke18]

It does look like a bidding war. It's not a particularly great spare either, in my view.

[MichaelStaley]

Surely where there are two or more bidders it's bound to be a "bidding war". At least two of the bidders wanted the picture enough to take it to those heights.

The prices fetched at auction by Spare's pictures has been going up steadily for a number of years now. Recently we've had the Cuming exhibition, the BBC2 'Culture Show', and Phil Baker's biography, all in my opinion increasing the interest in Spare. It'll be interesting to see if this latest price is sustained over future auctions, or if it was a flash in the pan.

[michaelclarke18]

It'll be interesting to see if this latest price is sustained over future auctions, or if it was a flash in the pan.

If you check the prices of the other works that were for sale in that auction, it would appear that the price of art is going up in the general sense. Compared to some of the other works, I would say that the Spare offered rather good value.
This effect is probably more to do with general inflation, as opposed to an upward trend in works by Spare - although this could be a factor. For example, tinned fish is now around 40% more that it was around 2 years ago.