$392.6 M. Lewis Collection Sale Smashes Records at Sotheby’s, Led by $63.9 M. Modigliani
On Wednesday evening in London, Sotheby’s sold British billionaire Joe Lewis’s collection for £296.3 million ($392.6 million), setting a new European record for a single-owner sale and nearly doubling the roughly $200 million estimate. None of the 25 lots were guaranteed, and only one failed to sell: an 1880 Edgar Degas estimated at £3 million–£4 million ($3.95 million–$5.27 million). The top lot was Amadeo Modigliani’s Nu assis au collier (1917–18), which achieved £48.2 million ($63.9 million) including fees after being bought by Lewis at Christie’s in 1995 for $12.4 million. Sotheby’s said the evening’s additional modern and contemporary sale brought in £97.1 million ($128.1 million), for a total of £393.4 million ($520.7 million) in one night, led in that section by a Claude Monet at £40.8 million ($54 million).
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This story was covered in Auction Fever, Digital Backlash, and Stolen Masterpieces