#estate-sales

#estate-sales

"We are still in the early days of the so-called great wealth transfer," says the lawyer Pierre Valentin, the joint head of art law at Fieldfisher. "The wave started in the US with the sale of collections such as those of Sydell Miller, Mica Ertegun and more recently, Leonard Lauder. The wave is coming to Europe, for example with the auction of the collection of Pauline Karpidas [last] September. I expect that there will be many more of those 'white glove' sales in the next 10 to 15 years because younger collectors collect differently from their parents and grandparents."

After several lean auction seasons, next week's marquee sales in New York are packed with inventory. On Monday night alone, Christie's will send 80 works to the block. Across the week, 27 lots carry estimates north of $10 million-a "staggering number for a bumpy market," as one art adviser recently put it. In May, there were about half as many, with few fireworks in the salesroom. Is the market ready?

While I love warm weather for the flea markets and yard sales that pop up this time of year, whenever I'm looking for staple household items, I typically head to estate sales.